Effects of electroacupuncture at KI3 and ST36 on the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus in a rat model of chronic glomerulonephritis

OBJECTIVE

The hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) acts as a critical integrating center of endocrine/autonomic responses and regulates visceral functional activities. However, its involvement in electroacupuncture (EA) treatment of chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) remains unclear.

METHODS

Over four experiments, we randomized 111 rats into: control, untreated model (CGN) or EA-treated model (CGN + EA) groups, a model group receiving EA after PVN damage (CGN + EA + Lesion) or untreated model groups injected with adeno-associated viral vectors encoding human M4 muscarinic receptor (CGN + hM4D) or enhanced green fluorescent protein (CGN + EGFP). CGN was modeled by intraperitoneal injection of bovine serum albumin for 2 weeks. Rats in the CGN + EA and CGN + EA + Lesion groups received EA at bilateral ST36 and KI3 for 14 days. Urine/serum samples were collected to evaluate inflammatory factors and changes in renal function.

RESULTS

EA inhibited the release of interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-1β, and decreased urine protein (PRO), creatinine (Cre) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels. PVN damage influenced the effect of EA on the levels of these parameters. EA appeared to inhibit the firing frequency and spectral energy of PVN neurons. In the viral vector experiment, levels of PRO, Cre, IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α in the CGN group were increased in CGN versus control groups (p < 0.0001), decreased in CGN + hM4D versus CGN groups (p < 0.05) and did not differ between CGN + EGFP and control groups (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that EA at ST36 and KI3 improves CGN in this rat model by weakening the activity of PVN neurons, alleviating impairment of renal function impairment and restricting the release of inflammatory factors.

High-throughput data on circular RNA reveal novel insights into chronic glomerulonephritis

BACKGROUND

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a unique novel type of RNA, have been widely reported to be involved in physiologic and pathologic processes in humans. However, the exact molecular pathogenesis of circRNAs in chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) is far from clear.

OBJECTIVE

This paper aims to evaluate the specific expression profile of circRNAs in renal cortex tissues from Adriamycin-induced CGN rats.

METHODS

CircRNAs were screened in renal cortex tissues from 3 CGN rats and 3 control rats by using high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Then, 4 circRNAs were selected randomly for verification by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In addition, the differentially expressed (DE) circRNAs were analyzed by bioinformatics methods.

RESULTS

In total, 31 significantly DE circRNAs were identified, which revealed their potential roles in CGN; in particular, we found that 4 confirmed altered circRNAs (rno-circ-RNAs 689, 3217, 1327, and 5001) might play important roles in the development of CGN.

CONCLUSION

This study reveals a cluster of circRNAs that are DE in Adriamycin-induced CGN rats, which brings us closer to understanding the pathogenic mechanisms and may provide new potential targets for clinical treatment.

Efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of chronic nephritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Chronic nephritis is a common kidney disease that afflicts people worldwide. The disease has main manifestations of proteinuria, hematuria, edema, and hypertension that are associated with kidney-damaging processes that eventually lead to kidney failure. Traditional Chinese medicine involving combination treatment with herbal remedies and acupuncture has been shown clinically to alleviate chronic nephritis, although to date no systematic review of the efficacy of this combination treatment for this purpose has been reported, prompting this study. Here we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized clinical trials to scientific evidence and credible medical references supporting the clinical efficacy of this combination treatment when used to treat chronic nephritis.

METHODS

We will search the following 8 electronic Chinese and English databases: Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, China Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Scientific Journal Database, and the Wanfang database. All electronic databases will be searched from inception to October 10, 2021. All statistical analyses will be performed using Review Manager Version 5.4 provided by the Cochrane Collaboration Network.

RESULTS

The protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis will be applied to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of chronic nephritis.

CONCLUSION

We plan to submit the results of this research to a peer-reviewed journal.

INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER

INPLASY2021100051.

MicroRNA-17-5p restrains the dysfunction of Ang-II induced podocytes by suppressing secreted modular calcium-binding protein 2 via NF-κB and TGFβ signaling

Glomerulonephritis, also known as nephritis syndrome (nephritis for short), is a common kidney disease. Previous research has proved that microRNAs (miRNAs) frequently regulate various diseases including nephritis. Nonetheless, the biological function and molecular mechanism of miR-17-5p are unclear in nephritis. In the current study, RT-qPCR analysis showed that miR-17-5p was downregulated in Ang II-induced podocytes. Also, according to the results from RT-qPCR analysis, CCK-8 assay, flow cytometric analysis, western blot analysis, and ELISA miR-17-5p elevation alleviated Ang II-induced podocyte injury. Besides, luciferase reporter assay, western blot and RT-qPCR analyses revealed that SMOC2 was targeted by miR-17-5p in Ang II-induced podocytes. Additionally, rescue assays demonstrated that overexpressed SMOC2 counteracted the influence of overexpressed miR-17-5p on cell injury of Ang II-induced podocytes. Moreover, our data suggested that miR-17-5p-SMOC2 axis regulated TGFβ and NF-κB signaling activation in Ang II-induced podocytes. SMOC2 regulated cell viability, apoptosis and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in Ang II-induced podocytes via TGFβ signaling, and SMOC2 regulated inflammation in Ang II-induced podocytes through NF-κB signaling. Overall, our study demonstrated that miRNA-17-5p restrained the dysfunction of Ang-II induced podocytes by suppressing SMOC2 via the NF-κB and TGFβ signaling.

Circulating microRNAs as potential biomarkers of chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a supra - nosological term that reflects the progressive nature of chronic kidney diseases, which are based on the mechanisms of nephrosclerosis. Diagnosis of CKD at the earliest stages is of great importance, because it allows, by using therapeutic agents, to slow the progression of renal dysfunction and the development of cardiovascular complications. However, the currently available methods for diagnosing renal function impairment, including the determination of endogenous creatinine clearance, can detect renal dysfunction too late, when around 40-50% of the renal parenchyma is already reversibly or irreversibly damaged. In this regard, there is an active search for new, more sensitive and specific biomarkers for early diagnosis of CKD. Recent studies in cellular and animal models of CKD have demonstrated the important role of microRNA, a new class of posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression, in physiology and pathophysiology of kidneys. In particular, it has been shown that their expression profile in blood or urine can reflect changes in cells involved in a particular pathological process, since these cells can secrete a specific population of microRNAs, for example, through secretion of microRNA-containing exosomes. This gave grounds for considering increased or decreased expression of individual microRNAs in renal tissue or biological fluids (including urine) as new biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of CKD. This review presents the results of recent experimental and clinical studies on these issues.