The acute kidney injury(AKI) caused by nephrotoxic drugs contributes to inflammation and oxidative injury in podocytes. Wedelolactone (WED), a natural compound, is found with activities as anti-inflammation, anti-oxidative, anti-free radical,and etc. In this present study, MPC-5 cells were exposed to the nephrotoxic drugs doxorubicin (DOX). The results showed that WED significantly increased the SOD activity, CAT and GSH-Px levels, while significantly decreased the MDA content and ROS levels in DOX-induced MPC-5 cells. WED could also significantly decrease the levels of cytokines IL-6, MCP-1, TNF-α, and TGF-β1. Additionally, the activation and phosphorylation of IκKα, IκBα and NF-κB p65 was inhibited by WED. The co-treatment of PDTC (NF-κB inhibitor) and WED significantly reduced NF-κB p65 phosphorylation. These findings suggested that WED alleviated inflammation and oxidative stress of doxorubicin-induced MPC-5 cells through IκK/IκB/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Chinese herbal polysaccharides (CHPs) are natural polymers composed of monosaccharides, which are widely found in Chinese herbs and work as one of the important active ingredients. Its biological activity is attributed to its complex chemical structure with diverse spatial conformations. However, the structural elucidation is the foundation but a bottleneck problem because the majority of CHPs are heteropolysaccharides with more complex structures. Similarly, the studies on the relationship between structure and function of CHPs are even more scarce. Therefore, this review summarizes the structure-activity relationship of CHPs. Meanwhile, we reviewed the structural elucidation strategies and some new progress especially in the advanced structural analysis methods. The characteristics and applicable scopes of various methods are compared to provide reference for selecting the most efficient method and developing new hyphenated techniques. Additionally, the principle structural modification methods of CHPs and their effects on activity are summarized. The shortcomings, potential breakthroughs, and developing directions of the study of CHPs are discussed. We hope to provide a reference for further research and promote the application of CHPs.

Paeonia suffruticosa, an important traditional herbal medicine, has been reported to prevent the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy through modulating advanced glycation end products-induced inflammatory and oxidative stress responses. However, little was known about the protective effect of the two major compounds in P. suffruticosa, paeoniflorin and oxypaeoniflora, on advanced glycation end products-induced mesangial cell damage. In the present study, we investigated the protective activities of paeoniflorin and oxypaeoniflora on advanced glycation end product-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in mesangial cells HBZY-1. The IC₅₀ values of paeoniflorin and oxypaeoniflora for inhibiting 2,2′-azinobis-(3-thylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) formation were 4.197 × 10⁻⁴ M and 1.002 × 10⁻⁴ M, respectively. The pretreatment with paeoniflorin and oxypaeoniflora (10⁻⁸–10⁻⁴ M) significantly increased advanced glycation end product-induced glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities. In the coculture system of HBZY-1 and macrophages, paeoniflorin and oxypaeoniflora could inhibit remarkably the migration of macrophages. Furthermore, paeniflorin and oxypaeniflora attenuated markedly advanced glycation end products-induced inflammation cytokines interleukin-6 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels in ELISA and western blot analysis in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, our data provided the reliable evidence that paeniflorin and oxypaeniflora were able to attenuate advanced glycation end products-induced oxidative damage and inflammation in mesangial cells. Paeniflorin and oxypaeniflora might therefore have a beneficial effect in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy.