Renoprotective effect of ramulus mori polysaccharides on renal injury in STZ-diabetic mice.

Recently, increasing evidences have suggested that inflammatory stress is markedly occurred in the impaired tissue. Thus, the streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice were used to investigate the potential renoprotective effect of ramulus mori polysaccharides (RMP) and to discuss the underlying mechanism. The results from the present study showed that RMP significantly lowered the blood glucose and serum levels of glycosylated protein, cholesterol, urea nitrogen (Urea-N), creatinine (Cr) and 24-hour urine protein, while the albumin content was elevated. Meanwhile, the proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in renal tissue of STZ-lesioned mice were reduced by RMP treatment. Similarly, pathological examination indicated that STZ-induced renal injury was effectively mitigated. In addition, the protein levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) in renal tissue were notably decreased. Moreover, the endogenous expressions of phosphorylated-IκB (p-IκB) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) were down-regulated, respectively. Together, these findings revealed that RMP treatment effectively attenuated STZ-induced cytotoxicity in renal tissue, in which RMP-exerted renoprotection was associated with intrarenally debilitating inflammation reaction through blocking the IL-1/NF-κB pathway, thereby maintaining the renal homeostasis.