Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) remains the most common cause of adult-onset
nephrotic syndrome in the world and up to 40% of untreated patients will progress to
end-stage renal disease. Although the treatment of MGN with
immunosuppressants or
steroid hormones can attenuate the deterioration of renal function, numerous treatment-related complications have also been established. In this study, the ameliorative effects of
arctiin, a natural compound isolated from the fruits of Arctium lappa, on rat
glomerulonephritis induced by cationic
bovine serum albumin (cBSA) were determined. After
oral administration of
arctiin (30, 60, 120 mg/kgd) for three weeks, the levels of serum
creatinine (Scr) and blood
urea nitrogen (BUN) and 24-h urine
protein content markedly decreased, while endogenous
creatinine clearance rate (ECcr) significantly increased. The parameters of renal lesion, hypercellularity, infiltration of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN), fibrinoid
necrosis, focal and segmental proliferation and interstitial infiltration, were reversed. In addition, we observed that
arctiin evidently reduced the levels of
malondialdehyde (MDA) and pro-inflammatory
cytokines including
interleukin-6 (IL-6) and
tumor necrosis factor (
TNF-alpha), suppressed
nuclear factor-kappaB p65 (
NF-kappaB)
DNA binding activity, and enhanced
superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. These findings suggest that the ameliorative effects of
arctiin on
glomerulonephritis is carried out mainly by suppression of
NF-kappaB activation and nuclear translocation and the decreases in the levels of these pro-inflammatory
cytokines, while SOD is involved in the inhibitory pathway of
NF-kappaB activation.
Arctiin has favorable potency for the development of an inhibitory agent of
NF-kappaB and further application to clinical treatment of
glomerulonephritis, though clinical studies are required.