Current situation of the characters of kidney impairment induced by Chinese herbal medicine containing aristolochic acid / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explain the current situation of the study on Chinese herb nephropathy (CHN), clarify the concept of CHN and investigate the pathogenesis, also suggest the measures for the prevention and treatment of CHN.DATA SOURCES Articles about kidney impairment induced by Chinese herbal medicine containing aristolochic acid (AA) published in English between January 1994 and April 2006 were searched in Pubmed database by using the keywords of "kidney impairment induced by Chinese herbal medicine containing aristolochic acid (AA), nephropathy induced by aristolochic acid (AA), Chinese herb nephropathy (CHN)". Other articles were collected by the specific name of journals and title of papers by retrieving VIP database.STUDY SELECTION The original articles were checked primarily, those about kidney impairment induced by Chinese herbal medicine containing AA were selected, those obviously irrelevant ones were excluded, and the full-texts of the involved articles were searched manually.DATA EXTRACTION Totally 86 articles were collected, 20 of them were involved, and the other 66 repetitive studies or reviews were excludedDATA SYNTHESIS: At present, kidney impairment induced by Chinese herbal medicine has not attracted enough attentions in Chinese, and effective monitoring system should be established. The diagnosis and pathogenesis of nephropathy induced by AA are still unclear, and the prevention is the main treatment. Therefore, we should realize its harmfulness, and reinforce its basic and clinical researches.CONCLUSION: The main damage in kidney caused by AA focuses on the renal tubulointerstitial matrix. Renal glomerulus is rarely involved in the toxic process. Clinical manifestations also reflect the impairment of renal tubules and interstitium such as interstitial fibrosis. A more effective diagnosis monitoring and screening system should be set up in order to mesh the patients at the early stage. A more stringent method for classification of the species in fourstamen stephania root family will be established to avoid confusion and error. More valid therapeutic channels should investigate for its remedy.