Effect of astragalus injection on renal tubular epithelial transdifferentiation in type 2 diabetic mice

Pharmacological potential of Astragali Radix for the treatment of kidney diseases

BACKGROUND

With the increasing prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, the incidence of kidney diseases is also increasing, resulting in a serious public burden. Conventional treatments for kidney diseases have unsatisfactory effects and are associated with adverse reactions. Traditional Chinese medicines have good curative effects and advantages over conventional treatments for preventing and treating kidney diseases. Astragali Radix is a Chinese herbal medicine widely used to treat kidney diseases.

PURPOSE

To review the potential applications and molecular mechanisms underlying the renal protective effects of Astragali Radix and its components and to provide direction and reference for new therapeutic strategies and future research and development of Astragali Radix.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science were searched using keywords, including "Astragali Radix," "Astragalus," "Astragaloside IV" (AS-IV), "Astragali Radix polysaccharide" (APS), and "kidney diseases." Reports on the effects of Astragali Radix and its components on kidney diseases were identified and reviewed.

RESULTS

The main components of Astragali Radix with kidney-protective properties include AS-IV, APS, calycosin, formononetin, and hederagenin. Astragali Radix and its active components have potential pharmacological effects for the treatment of kidney diseases, including acute kidney injury, diabetic nephropathy, hypertensive renal damage, chronic glomerulonephritis, and kidney stones. The pharmacological effects of Astragali Radix are manifested through the inhibition of inflammation, oxidative stress, fibrosis, endoplasmic reticulum stress, apoptosis, and ferroptosis, as well as the regulation of autophagy.

CONCLUSION

Astragali Radix is a promising drug candidate for treating kidney diseases. However, current research is limited to animal and cell studies, underscoring the need for further verifications using high-quality clinical data.

Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus Bunge): botanical, geographical, and historical aspects to pharmaceutical components and beneficial role

Medicinal plants always are part of folk medicine and are nowadays receiving worldwide attention for prophylaxis, management, and treatment of several diseases, as an alternative to chemical drugs. The current work provided a comprehensive overview and analysis of the Astragalus and health relationship in literature. The analysis of their therapeutic potential is thus instrumental to understand their bioactivity. Among these, the flowering medicinal plant Astragalus membranaceus has raised interest due to several beneficial health effects. This perspective review discussed the botanical, geographical, historical, and the therapeutic properties of A. membranaceus, with a special focus on its health improving effects and medicinal applications both in vitro and in vivo.

Graphic abstract

Ultrasound enhances the therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells wrapped in greater omentum for aristolochic acid nephropathy

Background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been reported to promote regeneration in both subjects with acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), but their efficacy remains limited, probably because most of the cells accumulate in the lungs, liver, and spleen after an intravenous infusion. Therefore, ultrasound-guided administration of MSCs represents a possible approach to solve this problem. The greater omentum is used to promote cell survival due to its rich vasculature. We hypothesized that ultrasound-guided administration of MSCs combined with greater omentum might be more curative than currently available approaches.

Methods

In this study, we established an aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN) model by intraperitoneally administering aristolochic acid I sodium salt (AA-I) at a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight on alternate days for 4 weeks. Subsequently, a laparotomy was performed, and the left kidney from which the capsule had been removed was wrapped with the greater omentum. A dose of 2 × 10⁷ MSCs was injected into the space between the greater omentum and the left kidney. Equal amounts of MSCs were administered under ultrasound guidance every second week for a total of 4 treatments. Mice were sacrificed 4 weeks after surgery. Serum creatinine and blood urea levels were measured to assess renal function. qPCR, Western blot, and histological analyses were conducted to further investigate the therapeutic mechanism of MSCs.

Results

Ultrasound-guided injection of MSCs into the greater omentum that surrounds the kidney enriched cells in the kidney region for up to 5 days. Renal function tests indicated that MSCs improved renal function to a great extent, as reflected by decreased blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels. In addition, histological analyses showed that MSCs noticeably attenuated kidney injury, as evidenced by the amelioration of tubular necrosis and peritubular interstitial fibrosis. Mitigation of renal interstitial fibrosis was further confirmed by immunohistochemistry, qPCR, and western blotting after MSC treatment. Moreover, immunofluorescence staining revealed that MSCs alleviated inflammatory responses by increasing the counts of CD206+ cells and decreasing the counts of CD68+ cells. MSC migration was initiated in response to AA-I-treated renal epithelial cells in an in vitro migration assay.

Conclusions

These findings suggested that administration of MSCs into the cavity formed by the injured kidney and the greater omentum under ultrasound guidance improved renal function, attenuated kidney injury, and mitigated renal interstitial fibrosis and inflammatory responses. Thus, this approach might be a safe and effective therapy for CKD.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-021-02243-7.

Effect of Salinomycin on Expression Pattern of Genes Associated with Apoptosis in Endometrial Cancer Cell Line

Background

Salinomycin is part of a group of ionophore antibiotics characterized by an activity towards tumor cells. To this day, the mechanism through which salinomycin induces their apoptosis is not fully known yet. The goal of this study was to assess the expression pattern of genes and the proteins coded by them connected with the process of programmed cell death in an endometrial cancer cell Ishikawa culture exposed to salinomycin and compared to the control.

Materials and Methods

Analysis of the effect of salinomycin on Ishikawa endometrial cancer cells (ECACC 99040201) included a cytotoxicity MTT test (with a concentration range of 0.1-100 µM), assessment of the induction of apoptosis and necrosis by salinomycin at a concentration of 1 µM as well the assessment of the expression of the genes chosen in the microarray experiment (microarray HG-U 133A_2) and the proteins coded by them connected with apoptosis (RTqPCR, ELISA assay). The statistical significance level for all analyses carried out as part of this study was p<0.05.

Results

It was observed that salinomycin causes the death of about 50% of cells treated by it (50.74±0.80% of all cells) at a concentration of 1µM. The decrease in the number of living cells was determined directly after treatment of the cells with the drug (time 0). The average percent of late apoptotic cells was 1.65±0.24% and 0.57±0.01% for necrotic cells throughout the entire observation period.

Discussion

Microarray analysis indicated the following number of mRNA differentiating the culture depending on the time of incubation with the drug: H_12 vs C = 114 mRNA, H_8 vs C = 84 mRNA, H_48 vs. C = 27 mRNA, whereas 5 mRNAs were expressed differently at all times. During the whole incubation period of the cells with the drug, the following dependence of the expression profile of the analyzed transcripts was observed: Bax>p53>FASL>BIRC5>BCL2L.

Conclusion

The analysis carried out indicated that salinomycin, at a concentration of 1 µM, stopped the proliferation of 50% of endometrial cancer cells, mainly by inducing the apoptotic process of the cells. The molecular exponent of the induction of programmed cell death was an observed increase in the transcriptional activity of pro-apoptotic genes: Bax;p53;FASL and a decrease in the expression of anti-apoptotic genes: BCL2L2; BIRC5.

Elevated levels of netrin-1 in the serum of patients with diabetic nephropathy: Relationship with renal function and inflammation

Netrin-1, a survival factor, is highly induced and excreted after renal injury in animal experiments. We aimed to research the relationship between serum netrin-1 and parameters of renal tubule function as well as circulating inflammatory cytokines and to evaluate effect factors for netrin-1 in humans with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) undergoing different levels of albuminuria. In total, 81 T2DM patients were included and divided into three groups according to their amount of 24-h urine albumin excretion (UAE) after receiving consent. Plasma netrin-1, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were quantified by commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits and the data were analyzed to assess whether serum netrin-1 correlates significantly with disease progression. The results showed that plasma netrin-1 level in patients with macroalbuminuria was significantly higher than that in those with microalbuminuria and normoalbuminuria. Plasma netrin-1 level was significantly associated with UAE, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), IL-6, and TNF-α independently of age, sex, diabetes duration, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). However, no correlation was found between netrin-1 and β2-microglobulin (β2-MG). Our studies may suggest that serum netrin-1 concentrations are increased with diabetic nephropathy progression, particularly in patients with macroalbuminuria, which are associated with renal insufficiency and compensatory responses after inflammation.

Astragalus Membranaceus Improving Asymptomatic Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in Postmenopausal Hypertensive Women with Metabolic Syndrome: A Prospective, Open-Labeled, Randomized Controlled Trial

Background:

Postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome (MetS) have increased cardiovascular morbidity and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). The various protective effects of astragalus membranaceus (AM) have been described in previous studies. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of different doses of AM on diastolic function in postmenopausal hypertensive women with MetS.

Methods:

This was a prospective, randomized controlled study. The postmenopausal hypertensive patients with MetS were enrolled from Lanzhou University Second Hospital from March 2014 to April 2015. Patients were divided into three groups: control group (received conventional medical treatment), AM Group 1 (received AM capsules at 5 g/d additionally), and AM Group 2 (received AM capsules at 10 g/d additionally). Echocardiographic and clinical characteristics were evaluated before and 12 months after treatment. Quantitative data were analyzed using unpaired t-test, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results:

A total of 154 patients were subjected to final analysis. In the AM Group 2, significant improvements were noted in diastolic function 12 months after treatment than those of the control group, including the early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E’; 0.065 ± 0.007 m/s vs. 0.061 ± 0.008 m/s, P = 0.014), the ratio of the early diastolic mitral peak flow velocity to the late diastolic mitral peak flow velocity (E/A; 0.81 ± 0.05 vs. 0.80 ± 0.06, P = 0.012), the ratio of E’ to the late diastolic mitral annular velocity (E’/A’; 0.56 ± 0.12 vs. 0.51 ± 0.13, P = 0.048), and the ratio of the early diastolic mitral peak flow velocity (E) to E’ (E/E’; 10.70 ± 1.30 vs. 11.37 ± 1.73, P = 0.031). After treatment, E/E’ (10.70 ± 1.30 vs. 11.24 ± 1.56, P = 0.021), deceleration time (DT; 261.49 ± 44.41 ms vs. 268.74 ± 53.87 ms, P = 0.046), and E’/A’ (0.56 ± 0.12 vs. 0.52 ± 0.13, P = 0.019) values improved more significantly than those of AM Group 2 before treatment. Besides, waist circumference was positively correlated with E’ (r = 0.472; P = 0.003) and E’/A’ (r = 0.321; P = 0.047). In addition, the waist-to-hip ratio was a significant predictor of DT (r = 0.276; P = 0.041), E’ (r = −0.590; P < 0.001), E/E’ (r = 0.454; P = 0.004), and E’/A’ (r = −0.377; P = 0.018).

Conclusions:

Conventional medical plus AM therapy improved diastolic function. Moreover, WC and WHR might be risk factors for LVDD.

Chinese Clinical Trial Register:

ChiCTR-TRC-11001747. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=7798.

The modified Yi qi decoction protects cardiac ischemia-reperfusion induced injury in rats

BACKGROUND

To investigate the effects and involved mechanisms of the modified Yi Qi decoction (MYQ) in cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (IR) induced injury.

METHODS

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a 30-min coronary arterial occlusion followed by reperfusion, low or high dose decoction of MYQ was administrated orally for 1 week or 1 month.

RESULTS

Both in 1 week and 1 month IR rat groups, cardiac function indexes were significantly impaired compared with sham group rats, accompanied with higher ratio of infarct size to risk size, decreased expressions of sodium calcium exchanger (NCX1) and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (Serca2a), and different expressions of autophagic proteins, Beclin-1 and LC3. Treatment with MYQ (low or high dose) for 1 week showed no marked beneficial effects on cardiac function and cardiac injury (ratio of infarct size to risk size), although expressions of anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-2, NCX1 and Serca2a were increased. Treatment with MYQ (low or high dose) for 1 month showed significantly improved effects on cardiac function and cardiac injury (ratio of infarct size to risk size), accompanied with increase of Bcl-2, NCX1 and Serca2a expressions, and decrease of Bax (a pro-apoptotic protein) and Beclin-1 expressions.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that MYQ have potential therapeutic effects on IR-induced cardiac injury, which may be through regulation of apoptotic proteins, cytosolic Ca2+ handling proteins and autophagic proteins signal pathways.