International immunopharmacology
-
Int. Immunopharmacol. · Apr 2016
Zhen-wu-tang attenuates cationic bovine serum albumin-induced inflammatory response in membranous glomerulonephritis rat through inhibiting AGEs/RAGE/NF-κB pathway activation.
Zhen-wu-tang (ZWT), a traditional Chinese compound formula recorded in the Treatise on Febrile Diseases, has significant inhibitory effects on inflammatory damage and oxidative lesions in rats, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore whether the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects of ZWT were mediated by the AGEs/RAGE/NF-κB signaling pathway in rats with cationic bovine serum albumin (C-BSA)-induced membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN). We found that ZWT significantly reduced the production of malondialdehyde (MDA), but enhanced the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. ⋯ The accumulation of AGEs, oxidative lesions and inflammation damage were reduced by an AGE inhibitor. Thus, the present study demonstrates that AGEs play a role in the pathogenesis of MGN and that AGE inhibition could reduce the inflammatory reactions and oxidative lesions in MGN. In general, ZWT attenuated MGN, in part, by inhibiting the AGEs/RAGE/NF-κB pathway.