Diosgenin protects against cationic bovine serum albumin-induced membranous glomerulonephritis by attenuating oxidative stress and renal inflammation via the NF-κB pathway

Abstract

Context

Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) is a leading cause of nephrotic syndrome in adults. Diosgenin (DG) has been reported to exert antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects.

Objective

To investigate the renoprotective activity of DG in a cationic bovine serum albumin-induced rat model of MGN.

Materials and methods

Fourty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into four groups. The MGN model was established and treated with a DG dose (10 mg/kg) and a positive control (TPCA1, 10 mg/kg), while normal control and MGN groups received distilled water by gavage for four consecutive weeks. At the end of the experiment, 24 h urinary protein, biochemical indices, oxidation and antioxidant levels, inflammatory parameters, histopathological examination, immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting were evaluated.

Results

DG significantly ameliorated kidney dysfunction by decreasing urinary protein (0.56-fold), serum creatinine (SCr) (0.78-fold), BUN (0.71-fold), TC (0.66-fold) and TG (0.73-fold) levels, and increasing ALB (1.44-fold). DG also reduced MDA (0.82-fold) and NO (0.83-fold) levels while increasing the activity of SOD (1.56-fold), CAT (1.25-fold), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (1.55-fold) and GSH (1.81-fold). Furthermore, DG reduced Keap1 (0.76-fold) expression, Nrf2 nuclear translocation (0.79-fold), and induced NQO1 (1.25-fold) and HO-1 (1.46-fold) expression. Additionally, DG decreased IL-2 (0.55-fold), TNF-α (0.80-fold) and IL-6 (0.75-fold) levels, and reduced protein expression of NF-κB p65 (0.80-fold), IKKβ (0.93-fold), p-IKKβ (0.89-fold), ICAM-1 (0.88-fold), VCAM-1 (0.91-fold), MCP-1 (0.88-fold) and E-selectin (0.87-fold), and also inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 (0.64-fold).

Discussion and conclusions

The results suggest a potential therapeutic benefit of DG against MGN due to the inhibition of the NF-κB pathway, supporting the need for further clinical trials.

Keywords:

• Chronic kidney disease
• podocyte
• traditional Chinese medicine
• Nrf2/Keap1 signalling pathway

Author contributions

QMZ and GZL conceived and designed the experiments. SYJ and RHS performed the experiments in animal models. QMZ, SYJ and RHS performed the experimental analysis. QMZ and SYJ wrote the first draft of the manuscript. GZL supervised the work and revised the manuscript. QMZ and GZL obtained the funding. The revised manuscript was written through the contributions of all authors. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Key Project of Shanxi Province (201603D113023, 201703D421024, 2016ZD0307) and the Science Project of Shanxi Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2023ZYYC005).