Cordyceps militaris fruit body extract ameliorates membranous glomerulonephritis by attenuating oxidative stress and renal inflammation via the NF-κB pathway

Abstract

Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) is a common pathogenesis of nephritic syndrome in adult patients. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) serves as the main transcription factor for the inflammatory response mediated nephropathy. Cordyceps militaris, containing various pharmacological components, has been used as a kind of crude drug and folk tonic food for improving immunity and reducing inflammation. The current study aims to investigate the renoprotective activity of Cordyceps militaris aqueous extract (CM) in the cationic bovine serum albumin (C-BSA)-induced rat model of membranous glomerulonephritis. Significant renal dysfunction was observed in MGN rats; comparatively, 4-week CM administration strongly decreased the levels of 24 h urine protein, total cholesterol, triglyceride, blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine, and increased the levels of serum albumin and total serum protein. Strikingly, recovery of the kidney histological architecture was noted in CM-treated MGN rats. A significant improvement in the glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase levels, and a reduced malondialdehyde concentration were observed in the serum and kidney of CM-treated rats. Altered levels of inflammatory cytokines including interleukins, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, vascular adhesion molecule 1, tumor necrosis factor-α, 6-keto-prostaglandin F1α, and nuclear transcriptional factor subunit NF-κB p65 reverted to normal levels upon treatment with CM. The present data suggest that CM protects rats against membranous glomerulonephritis via the normalization of NF-κB activity, thereby inhibiting oxidative damage and reducing inflammatory cytokine levels, which further provide experimental evidence in support of the clinical use of CM as an effective renoprotective agent.

Triptolide Attenuates Inflammatory Response in Membranous Glomerulo-Nephritis Rat via Downregulation of NF-κB Signaling Pathway

“…In this study, we showed the involvement of NF-κB in pathogenesis of MGN and the inflammatory reaction in MGN can be reduced by TPL and IMD-0354 treatment through inhibiting NF-κB. Previous study have shown that NF-κB subunit p65 and p50 proteins have critical in vivo functions, and the NF-κB pathway activation associated with the inflammatory response in renal disease [39,40]. In agreement with these reports, we also showed that TPL could inactivate NF-κB (p65 and p50) and blocking IκBα degradation thus inhibit inflammation, suggesting a potential attenuating effect of TPL on MGN via suppressing NF-κB signaling pathway.…”

Antidiabetic activities of polysaccharides separated from Inonotus obliquus via the modulation of oxidative stress in mice with streptozotocin-induced diabetes

“…The LC-10ATvp high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system (Shimadzu, Japan), equipped with a TSK-GEL G4000PWXL column (Tosho Co., Japan) and a Alltech 2000ES Evaporative Light Scattering Detector (ELSD) (Shimadzu, Japan) were used to evaluate the molecular weights of IO1-IO5 [13]. Double distilled (D.D.)…”

Polysaccharide purified from Lycium barbarum protects differentiated PC12 cells against L-Glu-induced toxicity via the mitochondria-associated pathway

“…L. barbarum (obtained from Ningxia province, China) was extracted with water (100 g L. barbarum in 500 ml) twice at 80˚C for 3 h. The collected supernatant was concentrated at 37˚C and 4,000 x g for 10 min and proteins were removed using 50 ml Sevag reagent (n-butanol: chloroform, 1:4 vol). The polysaccharides were purified according to previous methods (16). Following precipitation with 4-fold ethanol at 4˚C for 12 h, the precipitate was dissolved in double distilled water and subjected to a diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-52 cellulose anion exchange column (2.6 cm x 35 cm; Whatman; GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Little Chalfont, UK) and a gel permeation chromatography system (Sepharose G-100; Pharmacia; GE Healthcare Life Sciences).…”