Ethanol Extract of Illicium henryi Attenuates LPS-Induced Acute Kidney Injury in Mice via Regulating Inflammation and Oxidative Stress

Abstract

The root bark of Illicium henryi has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various diseases. Its ethanol extract (EEIH) was found to contain a large number of phenols and possess in vitro antioxidant activities. The present study aimed to investigate its protective effect against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) in mice. BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally pretreated with EEIH for five days, and then LPS injection was applied to induce AKI. Blood samples and kidney tissues were collected and used for histopathology, biochemical assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and Western blot analyses. EEIH not only significantly dose-dependently attenuated histological damage and reduced renal myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity (from 9.77 ± 0.73 to 0.84 ± 0.30 U/g tissue) but also decreased serum creatinine (from 55.60 ± 2.70 to 27.20 ± 2.39 µmol/L) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (from 29.95 ± 1.96 to 16.12 ± 1.24 mmol/L) levels in LPS-treated mice. EEIH also markedly dose-dependently inhibited mRNA expression and production of TNF-α (from 140.40 ± 5.15 to 84.74 ± 5.65 pg/mg), IL-1β (from 135.54 ± 8.20 to 77.15 ± 5.34 pg/mg), IL-6 (from 168.74 ± 7.23 to 119.16 ± 9.35 pg/mg), and COX-2 in renal tissue of LPS-treated mice via downregulating mRNA and protein expressions of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and phosphorylation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65. Moreover, EEIH significantly dose-dependently reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) (from 5.43 ± 0.43 to 2.80 ± 0.25 nmol/mg prot) and NO (from 1.01 ± 0.05 to 0.24 ± 0.05 µmol/g prot) levels and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) (from 22.32 ± 2.92 to 47.59 ± 3.79 U/mg prot) and glutathione (GSH) (from 6.57 ± 0.53 to 16.89 ± 0.68 µmol/g prot) levels in renal tissue induced by LPS through upregulating mRNA expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2). Furthermore, EEIH inhibited LPS-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production from RAW264.7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that EEIH has protective effects against AKI in mice through regulating inflammation and oxidative stress.

Oral administration of recombinant Bacillus subtilis spores expressing mutant staphylococcal enterotoxin B provides potent protection against lethal enterotoxin challenge

“…When hepatocytes are damaged, ALT and AST are released into the blood (Gao et al 2017). In addition, serum CR and URE are important indicators of kidney injury (Islam et al 2019), whereas CK and CK-MB are associated with cardiac in ammation and function (Gao et al 2019). We fused mSEB with the outer coat protein of B. subtilis, CotC, and observed that there was no signi cant difference between the biochemical enzymatic activities of the mSEB group and those of the naïve and CotC groups.…”

New insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying cardiorenal syndrome

“…heart failure) [46,47]. Cardiorenal "connectors" such as erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD1), GSH, and NADPH have also been used to measure kidney and heart injury [48][49][50][51][52][53].…”

Astaxanthin Protects Against Early Acute Kidney Injury in Severely-Burned Rats Through Inactivating TLR4/MyD88/NF-kB Axis and Upregulating Heme Oxygenase-1

“…The LPS control group received 4 mg/kg Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) immediately after sham operation by ip routine 31 . The ATX plus LPS group was given 20 mg/kg ATX 30 min post-burn and 4 mg/kg LPS 1 h after burn induction by ip injection 31,32 . The TAK242 and PDTC were tail-intravenously or intraperitoneally administrated 0.5 h pre-burn at 3 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg in the selected ATX plus LPS groups as mentioned above.…”