Verbascoside alleviates renal fibrosis in unilateral ureteral obstruction rats by inhibiting macrophage infiltration

Y Objective(s): To explore the effect of verbascoside on renal fibrosis in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) rats. Materials and Methods: Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly distributed into sham-operated, UUO, and UUO+Verbascoside groups. After two weeks of rat model construction, urine and blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis while kidney tissues were harvested for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Masson's Trichrome, and immunohistochemistry staining. Pearson coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between the two proteins. Results: Verbascoside improved UUO-induced renal dysfunction as detected by decreased serum creatinine, urea nitrogen, and urinary protein excretion rate. In UUO rats, H&E staining result revealed increased total nucleated cell number, and Masson's Trichrome staining results showed tubular interstitial fibrosis with the deposition of collagen fibrils. Besides, expressions of fibrosis-related proteins including collagen type I (COL-I), alpha-smooth muscle actin (a-SMA), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP2) expressed higher in the UUO group. Moreover, macrophage infiltrationrelated factors such as CD68+, F4/80+ cells, and suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3) were significantly higher in the UUO group than in sham-operated rats. However, after administration with verbascoside, the accumulation of collagen fibrils and total nucleated cell numbers were mitigated. Likewise, macrophage infiltration was extenuated and fibrosis-related proteins were down-regulated in the UUO+Verbascoside rats. Correlation analysis indicated that macrophage infiltration-related markers were related to fibrosis-related factors. Conclusion: Verbascoside could alleviate renal fibrosis in UUO rats probably through ameliorating macrophage infiltration.

Automated summary

The study revealed that verbascoside could alleviate renal fibrosis in UUO rats by ameliorating renal dysfunction, reducing total nucleated cell numbers and collagen fibrils deposition, as well as down-regulating the expression of fibrosis-related proteins. Additionally, macrophage infiltration was mitigated by verbascoside treatment.