Effects of Danggui Buxue Tang, a traditional Chinese herbal decoction, on high glucose-induced proliferation and expression of extracellular matrix proteins in glomerular mesangial cells.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage failure of the kidney, but the efficacy of currently available strategies for the prevention of DN remains unsatisfactory. In this study, we investigated the effects of Danggui Buxue Tang (DBT), a Chinese herbal decoction prepared from Radix Astragali (RA) and Radix Angelicae sinensis (RAS), on high glucose-induced proliferation and expression of laminin, type IV collagen (collagen IV) and fibronectin in glomerular mesangial cells (GMCs). The cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay, and the expression of collagen IV, laminin and fibronectin in GMCs was detected by ELISA assay. It was shown that high glucose clearly induced the proliferation of GMCs and increased the release of collagen IV, laminin and fibronectin. Treatment with RA, RAS and DBT inhibited cell proliferation and the expression of collagen IV, laminin and fibronectin induced by high glucose, with DBT, especially at the highest concentration (DBT20), exhibiting a stronger effect than RA and RAS alone. Thus, it is concluded that DBT inhibits increased cell proliferation and the expression of major extracellular matrix proteins that are induced by high glucose, indicating its value for prophylaxis and therapy of DN at the early stages.