Background: Total coumarins extracted from Hydrangea. Paniculata, Sieb (HP) have showed renal protective effect in several experimental acute and chronic kidney diseases.
Purpose: The aim of current study is to evaluate renal protective effect of HP against cationized-BSA (c-BSA) induced experimental membranous nephritis (MN), and further investigate its underlying mechanisms.
Methods: Rat MN model was established by intravenous injection of 5 mg c-BSA for consecutive 14 days, and after albuminuria confirmed, HP was orally administrated with 7.5, 15, 30 mg/kg for nine weeks. The renal function was measured and histopathological injuries were observed. RNA sequencing was used to analyze the altered signaling pathways in kidneys. Pharmacokinetics was performed to investigate the pharmacodynamics of major ingredients in HP and possible metabolites. Discover X platform helped to clarify the possible molecular mechanisms of major compound in HP.
Results: HP administration could significantly improve the renal function, and ameliorate the dyslipidemia and histopathological injuries. mRNA sequencing demonstrated that HP had anti-inflammation and anti-fibrosis effects possible through down-regulating the complement activation and PI3K-AKT pathways. Pharmacokinetics demonstrated that skimmin and 7-hydoxycoumarin (7-HC) were major compound or metabolite in plasma after oral administration. Based on Discover X platform, we confirmed that skimmin and 7-HC inhibited the IL10 production by inflammatory macrophages through blocking PI3K-AKT and NFκB signaling pathways. Finally, we demonstrated that HP protected tubulointerstitium from complement attack by reducing the C3 self-production and auto-cleavage in tubular cells.
Conclusions: HP has a renal protective effect, and its drug development may provide one alternative strategy to treat immune-mediated nephropathy.
Keywords: Complement system; Hydrangea paniculata; Il-10; Macrophage; Membranous nephritis; Pharmacokinetics.
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