Objective:

2

To observe the effect of Quyu Chencuo Formula (去菀陈莝方

QCF) on renal fibrosis in rats with obstructive nephropathy.

Methods:

2

Twenty-four rats were randomly divided into three groups

4 for sham operation as the control group

10 for unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model group

and the rest 10 for QCF treating UUO model group. All rats were sacrificed under 3% pentobarbital (50 mg/kg) anesthesia on the 14th day after surgery

then the right kidney samples of rats were harvested for hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining to observe the renal pathological changes. Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting were used to examine the expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1)

and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was employed to examine the expressions of TGF-β1

α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and E-cadherin mRNA.

Results:

2

HE and Masson staining showed that the renal interstitial of the rats in the control group had no significant fibrotic lesion; in the model group

there were obvious interstitial fibrosis; for the QCF group

there were epithelial cell necrosis

infiltration of lymphocytes and mononuclear cells

aggravated interstitial fibrosis in varied degrees

but the pathological changes were less in the QCF group than in the model group. The immunohistochemistry and Western blotting results showed that the TGF-β1 expression was increased significantly in the model group

while decreased significantly in the QCF group (

P

<

0.05); RT-PCR showed that the mRNA expression of α-SMA and TGF-β1 increased significantly in the model group

while both were significantly decreased in the QCF group compared with the model group (

P

<

0.05). The mRNA expression of E-cadherin was decreased significantly in the model group

and it was significantly increased in the QCF group as compared with the model group (

P

<

0.05).

Conclusion:

2

QCF may improve renal fibrosis by regulating the expressions of TGF-β1

α-SMA and E-cadherin

and prevent the progress of kidney fibrosis.