Astragali and Angelica protect the kidney against ischemia and reperfusion injury and accelerate recovery.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the role of Astragali and Angelica (A&A) of Chinese herbs in acute renal ischemia/reperfusion injury, and the related intracellular signal transduction mechanism.


METHODS
Acute ischemic renal injury in rats was induced by clamping in renal pedicel for 45 minutes. Rats in therapy group were given a single dose (2 ml/day) of A&A for 3 days before clamping, and then continued for another 3 days. Forty-five minutes after clamping and at different reperfusion time, serum creatinine (Scr) and renal pathological changes were taken and compared in both groups. The proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) positive cells were detected by immunohistochemistry. Extracelluar regulating kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activity was assayed by specific substrate phosphorylation with immunoprecipitation.


RESULTS
At the 24th hour of reperfusion, Scr was lower in A&A group than that in the control. Much less necrotic tubular cells, casts, and more PCNA-positive cells were found in A&A group. ERK activity decreased after clamping, and recovered at 5 minutes of reperfusion. There was no difference between the two groups. JNK activity did not change after ischemia, but increased at 5 minutes and peaked at 20 minutes of reperfusion. JNK activity was significantly higher in A&A group than that in the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
A&A protected kidney against ischemic insult and accelerated both functional and histological recovery after acute renal ischemia/reperfusion injury, which may associate with the change of JNK signaling pathway.
Cai
Q
Q
Renal Division, Department of Medicine, First Hospital and Institute of Nephrology, Health Science Center, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100034, China.
Li
X
X
Wang
H
H
D029969:Angelica; D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D007668:Kidney / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000150:complications*
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases