Effects of hawthorn proanthocyanidins and vitamin C on kidney protection in insulin-resistance rats / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effects of hawthorn proanthocyanidins (HPC) and vitamin C (VC) on kidney protection in insulin-resistance (IR) rats. Methods The IR rats were induced by high-fat diet in order to establish the model of nephropathy in type II diabetic rats, and the high-fat feeding were continued for 2 weeks after the IR rats were made. The contents of fasting blood glucose, serum insulin, glucose and microabuminuria (mAlb) in urine were tested. Fifty IR model rats were divided into model, HPC (56 mg/kg), VC (180 mg/kg), combined application of HPC (56 mg/kg) and VC (180 mg/kg), and rosiglitazone (2 mg/kg) groups. Another 10 normal rats were selected randomly to be control group. After continuous ig administration for 20 weeks in each group, these indexs, such as the levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum insulin (SI), glucose in urine (24 h), creatinine (Cr), urea nitrongen (UN), uric acid (UA), were all detected. The excretion of urinary total protein (UTP), microabuminuria (mAlb), N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) were also measured. Moreover, the histopathological microstructure of kidney was observed by light microscope. Results After modeling, the levels of FBG, SI and glucose in urine increased significantly (P < 0.01) in comparation with the control group, so does the levels of UN, Cr, UA (P < 0.01) and the excretion rates of UTP, mAlb, NAG (P < 0.01). However, all these indexs were decreased significantly (P < 0.01) after the combined use of HPC and VC, which were more notable than that in HPC and VC group (P < 0.01) and equivalent to that in rosiglitazone group. Conclusion The combined application of HPC and VC can improve the renal function of IR rats and have protective effects on kidney injury.