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Protective Effects of Dimedone Pyrone on Podocytes in Rats with Diabetic Nephropathy
Luan, Bing-Guo & Sun, Cai-Xia
Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the effect of dimedone pyrone (DP) on podocytes in rats with diabetic
nephropathy (DN).
Methods: The rats were randomly assigned into 5 experimental groups (n = 10), viz, non-diabetic
control with no treatment (ND/NT), diabetic with no treatment (DG/NT), diabetic treated with 5 mg/kg
dimedone pyrone (DG/DP 5), diabetic treated with 10 mg/kg dimedone pyrone (DG/DP 10) and diabetic
treated with 20 mg/kk dimedone pyrone (DG/DP 20) group. Clinical parameters, including 24 h urinary
protein, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (SCR), blood glucose (GLU), and kidney weight
(KW)/body weight (BW) were determined after 12 weeks of treatment. Hematoxylin and eosin staining
was used to examine renal pathological changes while transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was
employed for evaluation of structural changes in the podocytes. The expression levels of nephrin and
podocin were evaluated using immunofluorescence staining.
Results: Dimedone pyrone caused a significant decrease in SCR, BUN, GLU, KW/BW and 24 h urine
protein in DG/DP 20 group compared to DG/NT group. Furthermore, incidences of glomerular disorders,
chronic tubulo-interstitial damage and glomerular podocyte lesions decreased significantly following
dimedone pyrone treatment. Glomeruli, tubules and podocytes exhibited pathomorphological
improvements while nephrin and podocin protein expression levels were significantly higher in the
nephridial tissue. Decrease in relative kidney weight (KW/BW) and 24 h urinary protein level were
improved significantly on treatment with dimedone pyrone. Moreover, glomerular disorder, chronic
tubulo-interstitial damage and glomerular podocyte lesions were also suppressed. The improvement
was more significant in DG/DP 20 compared to DG/DP 5 and DG/DP 10 groups.
Conclusion: Dimedone pyrone exhibits a protective effect on the podocytes of rats and may be of
therapeutic importance in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy.
Keywords
Dimedone pyrone; Podocin; Diabetic neuropathy; Nephrin; Glomerular disorders
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