Effects of Astragali radix on Renal Function and its Protein Expression of IgA Nephropathy in Mice

AimTo study the protein expression of kidney tissues changes in the IgA nephropathy (IgAN) mice induced by dextran and effects of Aqueous-extracted Astragali Radix (AEAR) on IgAN mice.MethodsIgAN model was established by administrating dextran to normal mice. Some of the dextran-treated mice were given AEAR 10 g·kg−1 per day as the AEAR group. To gain insights into the pathomechanism of the protective effect, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) of protein patterns of the kidney tissues samples was carried out for normal control group, untreated (IgAN model) group, and AEAR treated group, respectively. After stained by silver staining method, the images were analyzed by PDQUEST 2-D-image analysis software.ResultsIn a 12-week pharmacological study, oral administration of AEAR to IgAN mice induced by dextran not only reduced the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr) and urine protein, but also made the differential protein patterns of kidney tissue of IgAN mice observably recover. Compared with the normal control group, about 334 kidney proteins were found significantly changed in the untreated group, in which 142 proteins increased 2 folds, 61 proteins increased 5 folds and 121 protein spots decreased more than 2 folds, and 10 proteins were uniquely expressed in untreated group. Compared with the untreated group, significantly changes in AEAR treated group were found. 50% of above 334 different proteins were regulated to near normal one in AEAR treated group. In the above 10 unique proteins, 5 spots fully recovered to the un-expression state of normal control group, 4 spots observably decreased and neared the normal expression level, and 1 protein slightly increased in AEAR treated group compared with the untreated group.ConclusionsAEAR was found to induce protective effect on renal function in IgAN mice and could play an important role in regulating these protein alterations, which would help us to find the target protein markers related to AEAR effects on IgAN in mice.