Natural products for the prevention and treatment of kidney disease

Abstract

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the common causes resulting in a high morbidity and mortality. Renal fibrosis is the main pathological features of CKD. Natural products have begun to gain widely popularity worldwide for promoting healthcare and preventing CKD, and have been used as a conventional or complementary therapy for CKD treatment.

Purpose: The present paper reviewed the therapeutic effects of natural products on CKD and revealed the molecular mechanisms of their anti-fibrosis.

Methods: All the available information on natural products against renal fibrosis was collected via a library and electronic search (using Web of Science, Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Splinker, etc.).

Results: Accumulated evidence demonstrated that natural products exhibited the beneficial effects for CKD treatment and against renal fibrosis. This review presents an overview of the molecular mechanism of CKD and natural products against renal fibrosis, followed by an in-depth discussion of their molecular mechanism of natural products including isolated compounds and crude extracts against renal fibrosis in vitro and in vivo. A number of isolated compounds have been confirmed to retard renal fibrosis.

Conclusion: The review provides comprehensive insights into pathophysiological mechanisms of CKD and natural products against renal fibrosis. Particular challenges are presented and placed within the context of future applications of natural products against renal fibrosis.

Keywords: Chronic kidney disease; Natural products; Renal fibrosis; TGF-β/Smad; Traditional Chinese medicine.