Preventive effects of shichimotsu-koka-to on renal lesions in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats

• Published in: Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin Vol. 21; no. 9; pp. 914 - 918
• Main Authors: HIGUCHI, Y, ONO, K, SEKITA, S, ONODERA, H, MITSUMORI, K, NARA, Y, SATAKE, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Maruzen 1998
• Subjects: Animals; Antihypertensive Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Creatinine - blood; Drinking - drug effects; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - therapeutic use; Eating - drug effects; Free Radical Scavengers - therapeutic use; Free Radicals - metabolism; General pharmacology; Hypertension - chemically induced; Hypertension - drug therapy; Hypertension - enzymology; Hypertension, Renal - enzymology; Hypertension, Renal - pathology; Hypertension, Renal - prevention & control; Japan; Kidney - enzymology; Kidney - pathology; Male; Medical sciences; Nitrogen - blood; Pharmaceutical Preparations - administration & dosage; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Plant Extracts - administration & dosage; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Rats; Rats, Inbred SHR; Rats, Inbred WKY; Superoxide Dismutase - metabolism; Urea - blood; Xanthine Oxidase - metabolism; Asia; Japan; Hypertension; Kidney disease; Urinary system disease; Rat; Pharmacognosy; Treatment efficiency; Rodentia; Oral administration; Cardiovascular disease; Antioxidant; Medicinal plant; Prevention; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Cytoprotector; Folk medicine; Animal; Plant origin; Phytotherapy
• ISSN: 0918-6158; 1347-5215
• DOI: 10.1248/bpb.21.914

Shichimotsu-koka-to (SKT) has been prescribed to treat patients with essential and renal hypertension. We investigated the effects of SKT on renal lesions in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSPs). SHRSPs were given an extract of SKT by mixing it with drinking water, from 8 through 29 weeks of age, so that the average intake of SKT extract was about 1.5 g/kg/d. At 29 weeks of age, the kidneys of SHRSPs exhibited proliferative arteritis characterized by the proliferation of smooth muscle cells in the interlobular arteries, dilation and degeneration of renal tubules, infiltration of inflammatory cells and hemorrhage, with partial swelling or necrotizing of glomeruli. In particular, arteritis and periarteritis were noted. The treatment of SHRSPs with SKT ameliorated this morphological damage in the kidney and significantly decreased urea nitrogen in the serum. Treatment with SKT also strongly decreased the xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity and significantly increased the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in the kidney of SHRSPs; consequently, these values became close to those in normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats (WKYs). These results indicate that treatment with SKT ameliorated the histopathological damage and change in activity of enzymes related to free radicals in the kidney of SHRSPs, which may be important mechanisms for SKT for protecting SHRSPs from renal dysfunction.