Therapeutic effect of artemisinin on lupus nephritis mice and its mechanisms |
| |
Authors: | Wu Xili Zhang Wanggang Shi Xingmin An Peng Sun Wansen Wang Zhu |
| |
Affiliation: | Department of Integrated Chinese Traditional and Western Medicine, Shaanxi Province Key TCM Department of Nephrology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Medical School of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. wuxili1984@163.com |
| |
Abstract: | In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of artemisinin (Art) on lupus nephritis mice and its mechanisms by comparing the differences between lupus nephritis (LN) mice given Art and control mice in molecular biology, immunohistochemistry, and histopathology. The results showed that Art could remarkably relieve the symptoms, decrease the level of urine protein/24 h, and alleviate pathological renal lesions. The differences among the four groups in the expression of the NF-κBp65 protein, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity, and the expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) mRNA in renal tissue suggested that Art can lower the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and inhibit the expression of the NF-κBp65 protein and NF-κB and TGF-β1 mRNA in the renal tissues of LN mice. These results proved that it is reliable and effective to use Art to treat LN mice, and its therapeutic mechanisms should closely be related to the fact that Art can obviously decrease the serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6 and down-regulate the expression of the NF-κBp65 protein and NF-κB and TGF-β1 mRNA in renal tissues. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|