Abstract
BackgroundThe polysaccharides from Liriopes Radix (PSLR) has been indicated to ameliorate insulin signaling transduction and glucose metabolism. We aimed to investigate whether PSLR exerts an ameliorative effect on renal damage in diabetes induced by streptozotocin.MethodsDiabetes was induced with STZ (60 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection in rats. Two weeks after STZ injection, rats in the treatment group were orally dosed with PSLR (200 and 300 mg/kg/day for 8 weeks. The normal rats were chosen as nondiabetic control group. Changes in renal function-related parameters in plasma and urine were analyzed at the end of the study. Kidneys were isolated for pathology histology, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot analyses.ResultsDiabetic rats exhibited renal dysfunction, as evidenced by reduced creatinine clearance, blood urea nitrogen and proteinuria, along with marked elevation in the ratio of kidney weight to body weight. All of these abnormalities were significantly reversed by PSLR. The histological examinations revealed amelioration of diabetes-induced glomerular pathological changes following treatment with PSLR. The less protein expressions of renal nephrin and podocin in diabetic rats were increased following treatment with PSLR. PSLR reduced the accumulation of ED-1-expressing macrophages in renal tissue of diabetic rats. PSLR almost completely abolished T cells infiltration and attenuated the expression of proinflammatory cytokines. PSLR treatments not only reduced the degradation of inhibitory kappa B kinase, but also downregulated the protein expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in diabetic kidney.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the renal protective effects of PSLR occur through improved glycemic control and renal structural changes, which are involved in the inhibition of NF-κB and p-38 MAPK mediated inflammation.
Highlights
The polysaccharides from Liriopes Radix (PSLR) has been indicated to ameliorate insulin signaling transduction and glucose metabolism
Significant increase in fasting blood glucose in STZdiabetic was observed when compared to normal control group and this change was more marked at the 8th week following diabetes induction
Our observations demonstrated that rats with diabetes lost their functional podocin, exhibited less nephrin protein expressions, and developed proteinuria
Summary
The polysaccharides from Liriopes Radix (PSLR) has been indicated to ameliorate insulin signaling transduction and glucose metabolism. We aimed to investigate whether PSLR exerts an ameliorative effect on renal damage in diabetes induced by streptozotocin. It has been reported that the water extract and crude polysaccharides obtained from Liriopes Radix had considerable hypoglycemic effects [7]. The polysaccharides from Liriopes Radix (PSLR) caused more marked activation on insulin signaling transduction in type 2 diabetic mice than the effects produced by water extract has been demonstrated [8]. Since the inflammatory process is involved in the pathogenesis of DN, there is a possibility that PSLR may ameliorate DN by suppression of renal inflammation, but this has never been explored
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