title: Effect of Quyu Chencuo Formula () on Renal Fibrosis in Obstructive Nephropathy Rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the effect of Quyu Chencuo Formula (, QCF) on renal fibrosis in rats with obstructive nephropathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four rats were randomly divided into three groups, 4 for sham operation as the control group, 10 for unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model group, and the rest 10 for QCF treating UUO model group. All rats were sacrificed under 3% pentobarbital (50 mg/kg) anesthesia on the 14th day after surgery, then the right kidney samples of rats were harvested for hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining to observe the renal pathological changes. Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting were used to examine the expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was employed to examine the expressions of TGF-β1, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and E-cadherin mRNA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HE and Masson staining showed that the renal interstitial of the rats in the control group had no significant fibrotic lesion; in the model group, there were obvious interstitial fibrosis; for the QCF group, there were epithelial cell necrosis, infiltration of lymphocytes and mononuclear cells, aggravated interstitial fibrosis in varied degrees, but the pathological changes were less in the QCF group than in the model group. The immunohistochemistry and Western blotting results showed that the TGF-β1 expression was increased significantly in the model group, while decreased significantly in the QCF group (P<0.05); RT-PCR showed that the mRNA expression of α-SMA and TGF-β1 increased significantly in the model group, while both were significantly decreased in the QCF group compared with the model group (P<0.05). The mRNA expression of E-cadherin was decreased significantly in the model group, and it was significantly increased in the QCF group as compared with the model group (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  QCF may improve renal fibrosis by regulating the expressions of TGF-β1, α-SMA and E-cadherin, and prevent the progress of kidney fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Xing-Guo
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China. yangshenglan@126.com.
authors.forename: Sheng-Lan
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Ran
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Guo
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology*; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D015820:Cadherins; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1; C498862:Acta2 protein, rat
keywords: Chinese medicine; E-cadherin; Quyu Chencuo Formula; kidney fibrosis; transforming growth factor β1; unilateral ureteral ligation; α-smooth muscle actin