Tectorigenin protects against unilateral ureteral obstruction by inhibiting Smad3‐mediated ferroptosis and fibrosis
Renal tubular epithelial cell (TEC) injury and fibrosis are the key factors of the pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease. Here, we reported that tectorigenin is effectively protected against obstructive nephropathy established by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). In vivo, tectorigenin administ...
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Published in | Phytotherapy research Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 475 - 487 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Chichester, UK
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
01.01.2022
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Renal tubular epithelial cell (TEC) injury and fibrosis are the key factors of the pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease. Here, we reported that tectorigenin is effectively protected against obstructive nephropathy established by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). In vivo, tectorigenin administration significantly alleviated the deteriorations of renal functions including blood urea nitrogen and creatinine. Meanwhile, results from the histology suggested that renal injury characterized by tubular cell damage and fibrosis lesions of kidneys in UUO group were markedly attenuated following tectorigenin treatment. Mechanistically, we found that tectorigenin treatment greatly inhibited Smad3 phosphorylation, and the transcription and protein level of Nox4, a newly identified direct downstream molecule of Smad3 and a modulator of ferroptosis, while it indirectly restored the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4, a negative regulator of ferroptosis. Consistent with in vivo studies, treatment with tectorigenin also suppressed the ferroptosis induced by erastin/RSL3 and fibrosis stimulated by transforming growth factor β1 (TGF‐β1) in primary renal TECs. What is more, treatment with ferroptosis inhibitor, ferrostatin‐1, also impeded TGF‐β1 stimulated the profibrotic effects in TECs, indicating that tectorigenin may relieve fibrosis by inhibiting ferroptosis in TECs. In addition, tectorigenin treatment exhibited a similar tendency, which inhibited Smad3 activation, and the docking analysis revealed that tectorigenin docked well into the Smad3 binding cavity with strong binding affinity (−7.9 kcal/mol). Thus, this study deciphers the protective effect of tectorigenin against obstructive nephropathy through inhibiting Smad3‐mediated ferroptosis and fibrosis. |
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Bibliography: | Funding information Bingwen Zhu, Jieke Yang, Jianchun Li contributed equally to this work. Technology and Human resources’ Bureau of Luzhou, Grant/Award Numbers: 2021‐JYJ‐51, 2020‐JYJ‐55, 2018LZXNYD‐PT03; Sichuan provincial Health Commission, Grant/Award Numbers: 19PJ154, 19PJ298; College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program, Grant/Award Numbers: S202110632220, S202110632202; Luzhou Municipal–Southwest Medical University Joint Special; Science and Technology Commission Foundation of Sichuan Province, Grant/Award Numbers: 21ZDYF0348, 2020YJ0442 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0951-418X 1099-1573 |
DOI: | 10.1002/ptr.7353 |