[Effect of curcumin on extracellular matrix accumulation in the glomeruli in nephrotoxic sera nephritis rats].
OBJECTIVE
To observe whether curcumin could inhibit the accumulation of the collagen IV and fibronectin in the glomeruli in nephrotoxi sera nephritis rats.


METHODS
Seventy-two healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups, with 24 animals in each group. For normal control group, normal saline (0.5 ml/d) was injected through intra-caudal-vein for two days, and at the same time normal saline (0.5 ml/kg) was also daily administered intraperitoneally. For nephrotoxic sera nephritis group, nephrotoxic sera (0.5 ml/d) was injected through the tail vein for two days and dimethyl sulfoxide (0.5 ml/kg) was given intraperitoneally daily. For curcumin group, nephrotoxic sera was injected as above and meanwhile curcumin (50 mg.kg(-1).d(-1)) was administered intraperitoneally every day. Six rats in each group were killed on the 3rd, 7th, 14th and 28th day. Their renal tissue was fixed in 10% formalin for examining the expression of collagen IV and fibronectin.


RESULTS
Minimal staining of collagen IV and fibronectin was detected in the basement membrane of normal control rats glomeruli. In the nephrotoxic sera nephritis rats and curcumin treated nephrotoxic sera nephritis rats, the accumulation of collagen IV and fibronectin was increased progressively, with significant difference in the accumulation of collagen IV (P<0.01) between these two groups at the same time points, while the significant difference in fibronectin accumulation (P<0.05) appeared only after the 7th days.


CONCLUSIONS
Curcumin can reduce the accumulation of collagen IV and fibronectin in the glomeruli. Hence we postulated that curcumin might have beneficial effect for retarding glomerulosclerosis.
Bao
Hua-Ying
HY
Department of Nephrology Nanjing Children's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210008, China. baohy67@hotmail.com
Chen
Rong-Hua
RH
Huang
Song-Ming
SM
Zhang
Ai-Hua
AH
Guo
Mei
M
Fei
Li
L
Pan
Xiao-Qing
XQ
D000818:Animals; D024141:Collagen Type IV / Q000378:metabolism*; D003474:Curcumin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000378:metabolism*; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009393:Nephritis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D024141:Collagen Type IV; D005353:Fibronectins; D003474:Curcumin