ABSTRACT
Aim To investigate the effects of high glu-cose on cholesterol metabolism in renal tubular cells and the intervention of the anthocyanins. Methods HK-2 cells were grown in the DMEM medium supple-mented with 10% FBS and were divided into 5 groups:normal glucose group, high glucose group, mannitol group, C3G group and Cy group. Effect of anthocya-nins on cell viability was detected with MTT, and cho-lesterol accumulation was detected with Amplex Red Cholesterol Assay kit and Filipin staining. Expression of ABCA1 was detected with RT-qPCR and Western Blot. Results In compared with control groups, HG significantly promoted cholesterol mass inside the cell and decreased the cholesterol concentration in the me-dium after treatment for 24 h or 48 h. The levels of mRNA and protein of ABCA1 were detected with RT-qPCR and Western blot, and both were decreased in the presence of HG. Whereas treatment with C3G and Cy markedly attenuated HG-induced cholesterol mass inside the cell by up-regulating the expression of AB-CA1. Conclusions High glucose can reduce the ex-pressions of the ABCA1, and then decrease cholesterol efflux and increase the cholesterol accumulation in HK-2 cells. Anthocyanins can decrease cholesterol accu-mulation by up-regulating the expression of ABCA1.