Impact of adiponectin and quercetin on alleviating palmitic acid-induced kidney cell damage through Keap1/Nrf2 pathway

Abstract

High concentrations of palmitic acid (PA) develop oxidative stress, leading to kidney cell damage; therefore, this study aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of adiponectin and quercetin for preventing kidney cell damage.To this end, HEK-293 cells were exposed to high and low concentrations of PA with and without adiponectin (10,100 ng/ml) and quercetin (10, 25 μM). The MTT assay was carried out to measure cell survival, and the real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to examine the expressions of Keap1and Nrf2 genes. The prooxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB) value was computed using the colorimetric method. To analyze the achieved data, a one-way ANOVA was run in the SPSS software (version 19).The analysis of gene expression revealed that the expressions of Nrf2 and Keap1 genes in the PA-treated cells significantly changed compared to those in the control cells (p < 0.05). Quercetin and adiponectin significantly reduced the relative expression of the keap1 genes and improved PAB levels in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05).Based on these results, it can be concluded that an effective strategy for decreasing fatty acid complications in kidney cells is to activate the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway using adiponectin and quercetin and improve oxidative stress status.