Effect of Chinese medicine for invigorating kidney and promoting blood circulation on expressions of TGF-_1 and CTGF in renal tissues of rats with glomerular nephritis

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of the Chinese medicine for invigorating kidney and promoting blood circulation on expressions of transforming growth factor-β_1 (TGF-β_1) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in renal tissues of the rats with glomerular nephritis.MethodsThirty healthy male Wister rats aged 6 months were adopted to construct a animal glomerular nephritis model and then randomly divided into a model group (MG),Chinese medicine group (CMG) and benazepril group (BG);another 10 rats of the same batch were used as a control group (CG).The rats of CMG were gavaged with a Chinese medicine for invigorating kidney and promoting blood circulation (a decoction composed of rhbarb,caterpillar fungus,salvia,astragalus,and Artemisia capillaris) once a day for 8 weeks;the rats of BG were administered with benazepril and those of MG and CG with normal saline the same way as for the CMG.By the end of the treatments,the protein content in 24 hours urine (24hU),the concentrations of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (Scr) were detected;the relative expressions of TGF-β_1 and CTGF were determined with immunofluorescence technique.ResultsSignificantly higher protein content of 24hU (96.58±10.32,49.76±9.82,and 50.30±10.02 mg),concentration of BUN (10.82±0.59,5.98±0.57,and 6.03±0.52 mmol/L),and the concentration of Scr (33.54±5.32,17.89±5.17,and 17.96±5.03μmol/L) were observed in the rats of MG,CMG,and BG compared to those (10.38±2.17 mg,4.01±0.37 mmol/L,and 2.55±0.71μmol/L) in the rats of CG (all P <0.05);the content of 24hU and the concentrations of BUN and Scr of CMG and BG were significantly lower than those of the MG (all P <0.05);while,there were no significant differences in the content of 24hU and the concentrations of BUN and Scr between the rats of CMG and BG (all P >0.05).For the rats of MG,CMG,and BG,the relative expression of TGF-β_1 was 5.296±0.124,0.568±0.156,and 1.697±0.468 and that of CTGF was 5.347±1.285,1.485±0.466,and 1.078±0.327,respectively,and all were higher significantly compared to those (0.035±0.007 and 0.017±0.004) in the rats of CG (all P <0.05);the relative expressions of TGF-β_1 and CTGF of the CMG and BG were significantly lower than those of the MG (all P<0.05);the expression of TGF-β_1 of CMG was significantly lower than that of BG (t=7.237，P< 0.001),but there was no significant difference in the expression of CTGF between the two groups (both P <0.05).ConclusionThe Chinese medicine for invigorating kidney and promoting blood circulation can significantly reduce laboratory indexes and inhibit expressions of TGF-β_1 and CTGF related to glomerular nephritis in rats.