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Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine >

2025 , Vol. 45 >Issue 3: 561 - 570

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2025.03.011

Bushen Tongluo recipe (补肾通络方) improves oxidative stress homeostasis, inhibits transforming growth factor/Notch signaling pathway, and regulates the lncRNA maternally expressed gene 3/miR-145 axis to delay diabetic kidney disease

  • Bojun XU ,
  • Tian TAO ,
  • Liangbin ZHAO ,
  • Hui ZHENG ,
  • huakui ZHAN ,
  • Julan GUO
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  • Department of Nephrology, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610072, China
XU Bojun and TAO Tian are co-first authors and contributed equally to this work

Received date: 2024-04-22

  Accepted date: 2024-09-30

  Online published: 2025-05-21

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of Bushen Tongluo recipe (BSTLR, 补肾通络方) on rats with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and to explore the underlying mechanism of action.
METHODS: The rat model of DKD was established, and rats were treated with different doses of BSTLR. Body weight and the levels of urinary protein, α1-microglobulin, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, Cystatin C, superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde, and catalase were analyzed biochemically or by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The pathological damage to renal tissues was assessed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. Immunohistochemical staining was carried out to detect the expression levels of fibronectin, E-cadherin, α-smooth muscle actin, laminin, vimentin, collagen type Ⅳ in kidney tissues. Western blot analysis was conducted to analyze the expression levels of Nephrin, Desmin, Podocin, transforming growth factor-β1, mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 3 (Smad3), Notch1, jagged, hairy and enhancer of split 1 (Hes1) in kidney tissues, and the expression levels of maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) and miR-145 were measured by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Moreover, dual-luciferase reporter assay was employed to verify the binding of miR-145 to MEG3.
RESULTS: BSTLR increased the body weight of DKD rats, effectively ameliorated the renal function and pathological injury in DKD, regulated the balance of renal oxidative stress, inhibited the TGF/Notch signaling pathway, and affected the variations in the lncRNA MEG3/miR-145 axis.
CONCLUSION: BSTLR improved oxidative stress homeostasis, inhibited the TGF/Notch signaling pathway, and regulated the lncRNA MEG3/miR-145 axis, effectively delaying the progression of DKD.

Key words： diabetic nephropathies; oxidative stress; transforming growth factors; receptors, Notch; signal transduction; RNA, long noncoding; maternally expressed gene 3; miR-145; Bushen Tongluo recipe

Cite this article

Bojun XU , Tian TAO , Liangbin ZHAO , Hui ZHENG , huakui ZHAN , Julan GUO . Bushen Tongluo recipe (补肾通络方) improves oxidative stress homeostasis, inhibits transforming growth factor/Notch signaling pathway, and regulates the lncRNA maternally expressed gene 3/miR-145 axis to delay diabetic kidney disease[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2025 , 45(3) : 561 -570 . DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2025.03.011

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