Tripterygium wilfordii mitigates hyperglycemia-induced upregulated Wnt/β-catenin expression and kidney injury in diabetic rats

Chang,Baochao; Chen,Weidong; Zhang,Yan; Yang,Ping; Liu,Lei

doi:10.3892/etm.2018.5901

Tripterygium wilfordii mitigates hyperglycemia-induced upregulated Wnt/β-catenin expression and kidney injury in diabetic rats

Authors:
- Baochao Chang
- Weidong Chen
- Yan Zhang
- Ping Yang
- Lei Liu
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Affiliations: Department of Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui 233000, P.R. China, Department of Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui 233000, P.R. China
Published online on: February 28, 2018 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2018.5901
Pages: 3874-3882
Copyright: © Chang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Aberrant activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway contributes to the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN); however, treatment with Tripterygium wilfordii (TW) may be beneficial for patients with DN. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of TW on Wnt/β‑catenin expression in the kidneys of diabetic rats. Male Sprague‑Dawley rats were randomly injected with vehicle (control) or streptozotocin to induce diabetes. Diabetic rats were then randomly treated with vehicle (sodium carboxymethyl cellulose; SCC), TW combined with SCC (8 or 16 mg/kg) or irbesartan (50 mg/kg) daily for 8 weeks. Metabolic parameter levels and renal pathological changes were examined. mRNA and protein expression of Wnt‑1, glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)‑3β, β‑catenin, nuclear factor (NF)‑κB and transforming growth factor (TGF)‑β1 in the kidneys of rats from all groups were measured. Compared with the DM group, metabolic parameters and morphological parameters, apart from blood glucose levels, were significantly improved in TW‑treated rats (all P<0.01). Furthermore, levels of Wnt‑1, β‑catenin, NF‑κB‑p65 and TGF‑β1 mRNA and protein were significantly reduced in the kidneys of TW‑treated rats compared with DM rats, whereas levels of GSK‑3β mRNA and protein did not differ significantly between any of the groups; however, the expression of P‑GSK‑3β protein was significantly decreased in the kidneys of TW‑treated rats compared with the DM group. The protective effects of TW tended to be dose‑dependent and were an improvement compared with irbesartan treatment in diabetic rats. Therefore, the results of the present study indicated that treatment with TW mitigated hyperglycemia‑induced upregulated Wnt‑1 and β‑catenin expression in kidney tissues and ameliorated diabetes-induced kidney injury in rats.

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