Effect of Fushengong Prescription on Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Pathway in Kidney of Rats with Chronic Renal Failure / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To observe the effects of Fushengong prescription on secretory glycoprotein （Wnt）/β-serial protein （β-catenin） signaling pathway in kidney of rats with chronic renal failure （CRF），and to further explore its mechanism of releasing the aggregation of extracellular matrix（ECM），inhibiting renal tubule interstitial fibrosis （TIF） and prolonging the progression of CRF. Method:A total of 55 SD male rats were randomly divided into the normal group，the model group，and the low， medium and high dose groups of Fushengong prescription，with 11 rats in each group.The normal group was routinely reared and the other 4 groups of rats were used to establish CRF model with 0.5% adenine fodder， fed them continuously for 21 d. After successful modeling，all model rats were switched to conventional feed. Normal saline （NS） was given the normal group and the model group by 20 mL·kg-1·d-1， the low， middle and high dose groups rats of Fushengong prescription were given intragastric administration Fushengong prescription according to the body weight of 4， 8， 16 g·kg-1，once a day，continuous gavage for 30 d. After the experiment，the pathomorphism change of renal tissues of rats was measured by Masson staining， the expression of Wnt4 and β-catenin mRNA in the kidney tissues were observed by the method of Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction（Real-time PCR）， the expression of Wnt4，β-catenin and matrix metalloproteinase-7（MMP-7） protein of renal tissues were detected by the methods of Western blot. The expression of Wnt4， β-catenin protein of renal tissues were detected by the methods of immunohistochemistry （IHC）. Result:Compared with normal group，renal tubule interstitial fibrosis of renal tissues increased distinctly and the expression of Wnt4，β-catenin and MMP-7 protein increased significantly in the model group. Wnt4 and β-catenin mRNA also increased significantly in model group（P<0.01）. Compared with model group， the expression of Wnt4， β-catenin and MMP-7 protein in the Fushengong prescription groups decreased obviously （P<0.05）. The expression of Wnt4 and β-catenin mRNA in Fushengong prescription groups also decreased obviously. Conclusion:The mechanism of Fushengong prescription can release the aggregation of ECM，inhibit TIF and delay the progression of CRF，which may be related with the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway.