Effects of tanshinone combined with valsartan on hypertensive nephropathy and its influence on renal function and vascular endothelial function

Am J Transl Res. 2021 May 15;13(5):4788-4795. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the curative effects of tanshinone combined with valsartan on hypertensive nephropathy and its influence on renal and endothelial damage.

Methods: A total of 102 hypertensive nephropathy patients who were admitted to our hospital from October 2015 to November 2019 were recruited and divided into a monotherapy group (MG, n=54) and a combined group (CG, n=48), in accordance with the treatment methods. Based on routine treatment, patients in the CG received treatment of tanshinone combined with valsartan, while patients in the MG received treatment of valsartan only. The clinical efficacy, adverse reactions, blood pressure, renal function indexes, vascular endothelial injury indexes, levels of inflammatory cytokines and stress response indexes of the two groups were compared.

Results: After treatment, the effective rate in the CG was higher than that in the MG, and the levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), serum creatinine (Scr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and microalbumin (mAlb) in the CG were lower than those in the MG (P < 0.05). After treatment, endothelin-1 (ET-1) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2) levels in the CG were lower than those in the MG, while nitric oxide (NO) level was higher than that in the MG (P < 0.05). No serious adverse reactions occurred in the two groups during treatment, with similar situations (P > 0.05). The serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), malondialdehyde (MDA) and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) in the CG were lower than those in the MG after treatment, while the level of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) was higher (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Tanshinone combined with valsartan can treat hypertensive nephropathy safely and effectively, and reduce renal and endothelial damage by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress.

Keywords: Tanshinone; clinical treatment; hypertensive nephropathy; valsartan.