Original articleFerulic acid is nephrodamaging while gallic acid is renal protective in long term treatment of chronic kidney disease

SummaryBackgrounds & aimsThe long term therapeutic effect of ferulic acid (FA) and gallic acid (GA) in treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been lacking.MethodsDoxorubicin (DR, Adriamycin)-induced CKD rat model was established for this study.ResultsDR significantly reduced levels of serum albumin, GOT, GPT, RBC, TNF-α, and urinary creatinine and elevated serum cholesterol, TG, BUN, creatinine, uric acid, WBC, platelet count, and IL-6. In DRCKD rats, FA and GA significantly increased kidney weight and glomerular volume. FA reduced glomerular filtration rate but GA did not. FA enhanced more collagen deposition than GA in renal cortex and glomeruli. Both FA and GA showed crucial hyperlipidemic activity. The inhibitory effects of FA and GA on MMP-2 were very comparable. GA suppressed MMP-2 more effectively than FA in DRCKD rats. Both FA and GA induced SOD elevation and MDA elimination. In DRCKD rats, Western blot analysis indicated that FA further up-regulated CD34, α-SMA, tissue pDGFR, p-PDGFR, and TGF-β; and down-regulated p-PI3K, and p-Akt. Since both PDGF-BB and TGF-β are considered to induce kidney prefibrosis stage, GA was proved to be more beneficial in this regard.ConclusionsGA tends to protect the CKD while FA is not recommended for the long term CKD therapy.