Study on the Efficacy and Mechanism of Lycium barbarum Polysaccharide against Lead-Induced Renal Injury in Mice

Abstract

Lead is one of the most common heavy metal pollutants in the environment. Prolonged exposure to lead will induce oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis in the kidneys, which in turn causes kidney injury. Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) is well known for its numerous pharmacological properties. This study aims to explore the efficacy and mechanism of LBP against lead-induced kidney damage in mice. Symptoms of renal injury were induced in mice by using 25 mg/kg lead acetate (PbAc2), and different doses of LBP (200, 400, and 600 mg/kg BW) were orally administrated to PbAc2-treated mice for five weeks. The results of the pharmacodynamics experiment showed that the renal pathological damages, serum creatinine (Cre), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and kidney index of PbAc2-treated mice could be significantly alleviated by treatment with LBP. Further, LBP treatment significantly increased the weight and feed intake of PbAc2-treated mice. The dose effect results indicated that a medium dose of LBP was superior to high and low doses. The results of mechanistic experiments showed that LBP could attenuate oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis in the kidneys of mice with lead toxicity by activating the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway.

Combating lead and cadmium exposure with an orally administered chitosan-based chelating polymer

“…The kidneys were the organ which suffered the most within this study, evidencing signs of inflammation, altered blood supply, and direct tubular injury, which is all in agreement with previous findings and nephrotoxic effects of lead and cadmium 48 , 49 . Within the mice treated with Chitosan@DOTAGA, the kidneys exhibited no signs of inflammation or tubular injury.…”

Dendrobium officinale polysaccharide alleviates thiacloprid‐induced kidney injury in quails via activating the Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway

“…UA is the end product of purine metabolism, 45 and CREA is a product of the catabolism of muscle creatine. 46 When kidney damage occurs, CREA and UA cannot be got into the urine and accumulated in the body. Serum UA and CREA levels can be used as marker indexes for kidney injury.…”

The Protective Effect of Lycium barbarum Betaine and Effervescent Tablet Against Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Rats

“…41 Under normal circumstances, Keap1 anchors Nrf2 in the cytoplasm and prevents Nrf2 from transferring allosterically to the nucleus. 43 One study showed that L barbarum polysaccharide had a protective effect against lead-induced kidney injury in rats by activating the Nrf2 pathway, 44 and another study showed that baicalin activated the Nrf2 pathway to have a protective effect against CCl 4 -induced acute liver damage in mice. 45 Our results showed that compared with the CON group, CCl 4 induced a decrease in the expression of Nrf2 mRNA, HO-1 mRNA, NQO1 mRNA, Nrf2 protein, HO-1 protein, and NQO1 protein and increased expression of Keap1 protein in rat liver.…”