Effects of Astragaloside IV on diabetic nephropathy in rats

The aims of this study were to explore the effects of Astragaloside IV on diabetic nephropathy (DN) rats. A total of 38 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into three groups: 10 in the normal (control) group, 14 in the DN model group, and 14 in the AS-IV group. Treatment began one week after the streptozotocin DN model was successfully established. Blood glucose and urine micro-albumin levels were measured every four weeks. After being treated for 12 weeks, all SD rats were sacrificed for blood and renal specimen collection. Renal cortex specimens were observed after hematoxylin and eosin and Masson staining. Expression levels of protein beta 1, beta 1-integrin-linked protein kinase (ILK) and alpha-actinin-4 were also measured. After eight weeks of intervention, blood glucose levels in the AS-IV group decreased significantly when compared with those of the model group (P < 0.01). By the end of the twelfth week, the urine micro-albumin levels showed significant differences (P < 0.01) between the AS-IV and model groups, and the expression levels of integrin beta 1, ILK, and a-actinin-4 also showed significant differences (P < 0.05, respectively). Concomitantly, expression levels of integrin beta 1, ILK, and alpha-actinin-4 in the model group were significantly different from those of normal group (P < 0.05). These results suggest that AS-IV can be quite effective in decreasing blood glucose levels, reducing urine albumin excretion, and improving the adhesion function of potocytes, and can thus delay the development of DN.