title: Qi-Dan Fang ameliorates adriamycin-induced nephrotic syndrome rat model by enhancing renal function and inhibiting podocyte injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a clinical syndrome with a variety of causes, mainly characterized by heavy proteinuria. Podocyte injury plays a key role in proteinuria, one of the principal means for the control of NS is to prevent podocyte injury. Qi-Dan Fang consists of two of the most extensively applied herbal remedies among Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (Radix Astragali Mongolici and Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, with a weight ratio of 5:1) which are specifically used for the treatment of various kidney diseases. In previous studies, we found that Qi-Dan Fang provides improvement to patients with adriamycin-induced nephrotic syndrome by alleviating proteinuria and serum lipid. The aim of this study is to study the efficiency of Qi-Dan Fang on NS model rat with renal dysfunction and podocyte injury, something which has not been carried out yet.
  
  
  METHODS
  The rats were divided into Normal, Model, Jin Gui Shen Qi Pill (4.12 g/kg), Qi-Dan Fang (3.09, 6.17 and 12.34 g/kg/d) groups, they were each given a single tail intravenous injection of Adriamycin (6.0 mg/kg) except for the Normal group and were orally administered dosages of Qi-Dian Fang and Jin Gui Shen Qi pills once daily for 7 weeks. Following the treatment, the content of cystation C (CysC), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Scr) were measured with an autobiochemical analyser. The pathomorphological changes to the glomeruli, the mRNA expressions of nephrin, podocin, CD2AP genes and p53, bax, bcl-2 proteins expressions were also carried out to probe the effects of Qi-Dan Fang.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Qi-Dan Fang treatment raised the level of CysC in blood serum while lowering the content of BUN and Scr in the adriamycin-induced nephrotic syndrome rat model; (2) Long-term administration of Qi-Dan Fang was able to ameliorate pathomorphological change of glomeruli and repair the organization structure of Glomerulus; (3) Qi-Dan Fang could increase the mRNA expression of nephrin, podocin and CD2AP genes, down-regulate the expression of p53, bax proteins, while increased bcl-2 protein to protect the podocyte and restore Glomerular selective filtration function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of our present studies reveal that Qi-Dan Fang is able to enhance renal function, inhibit podocyte injury to provide improvements to the Adriamycin-induced nephrotic syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Jun-Biao
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Shu-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Chun-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu-Cui
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Guangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional and West Medicine, Guangzhou 510860, PR China.
authors.forename: Ying-Jia
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Jie-Mei
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, PR China. Electronic address: zhoujiuyao@tom.com.
authors.forename: Jiu-Yao
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004317:Doxorubicin; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D007668:Kidney / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D009404:Nephrotic Syndrome / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008517:Phytotherapy; D050199:Podocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020011:Protective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; C494828:Bax protein, rat; C114545:CD2-associated protein; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C407223:NPHS2 protein; D020011:Protective Agents; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; C113267:nephrin; C000591858:qi-dan fang; D004317:Doxorubicin
keywords: ADR; BUN; CysC; Cystation C; Nephrotic syndrome; Podocyte; Qi-Dan Fang; RT-PCR; Renal function; Scr; adriamycin; blood urea nitrogen; reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction; serum creatinine; the mixture of Radix Astragali Mongolici (RA) and Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (RSM)