Repair Effects of Astragalus Polysaccharides with Different Molecular Weights on Oxidatively Damaged HK-2 Cells

Abstract

This study investigated the repair effects of three Astragalus polysaccharides (APSs) with different molecular weights (Mws) on injured human renal proximal tubular epithelial (HK-2) cells to reveal the effect of Mw of polysaccharide on cell repair. A damage model was established by injuring HK-2 cells with 2.6 mM oxalate, and APS0, APS1, and APS2 with Mw of 11.03, 4.72, and 2.61 KDa were used to repair the damaged cells. After repair by APSs, the morphology of damaged HK-2 cells gradually returned to normal, the destruction of intercellular junctions recovered, intracellular reactive oxygen species production amount decreased, and their mitochondrial membrane potential increased. In addition, the cell cycle progression gradually normalized, lysosome integrity increased, and cell apoptotic rates obviously declined in the repaired cells. All three APSs could promote the expression of Keap1, Nrf2, SOD1, and CAT. In addition, the expression levels of inflammation markers containing MCP-1 and IL-6 decreased after APS repair. We deduced that APSs exert their repair function by activating the Nrf2–Keap1 signaling pathway and inhibiting inflammation. Among the APSs, APS1 with a moderate Mw provided the strongest repair effect. APSs may have a preventive effect on kidney stones.

Associations Between Using Chinese Herbal Medicine and Long-Term Outcome Among Pre-dialysis Diabetic Nephropathy Patients: A Retrospective Population-Based Cohort Study

“…reduced 76% of risk compared to 51% for the other CHM. Studies reported that Astragalus mongholicus Bunge reduced inflammation and prevented renal interstitial fibrosis ( Wang et al, 2015b ; Shan et al, 2016 ; Zhou et al, 2017 ), regulated cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest ( Tay et al, 2019 ) and last but not least, it promoted repair function by activating the Nrf2-Keap1 signaling pathway and inhibiting inflammation ( Han et al, 2019 ). The third cluster with core CHM of Rheum palmatum L (or Rheum tanguticum (Maxim.…”

Modulation of Calcium Oxalate Crystal Growth and Protection from Oxidatively Damaged Renal Epithelial Cells of Corn Silk Polysaccharides with Different Molecular Weights

“…However, when the damaged renal epithelial cells are repaired [5] or the cells are preprotected [6], the probability of kidney stone formation can be greatly reduced. Exogenous plant polysaccharides with antioxidant function can effectively preprotect cells [7] and improve the ability of cells to resist oxidative damage.…”

“…Natural CSPs have difficulty crossing cell membrane and entering cells to play a role because of their large molecular weight [5,17,18]. Degradation of CSPs with large molecular weight can better exert their biological activities.…”

Structural Characterization and Immune Activity Screening of Polysaccharides With Different Molecular Weights From Astragali Radix

“…In addition to the complex chemical structure of APSs, their various biological activities, including immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, and hypoglycemic, have also received extensive attention ( Wang et al, 2018 ; Han et al, 2019 ; Zheng et al, 2020 ), as shown in Table 2 . APSs play an immunoregulatory role in many aspects.…”