Treatment of berberine alleviates diabetic nephropathy by reducing iron overload and inhibiting oxidative stress

• Yujing Wang ^[2] ; Shuling Yue ^[3] ; Feng Cai ^[2] ; Wen Zhu ^[1] ; Yuxiang Zhong ^[2] ; Juanjuan Chen ^[2] ; Chunyun Li ^[2]
  1. [1] Hainan University

     Hainan University

     China

     
  2. [2] Haikou Affiliated Hospital of Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, Xiangya, China
  3. [3] King Medical Diagnostics Center, Guanzhou, China

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• Localización: Histology and histopathology: cellular and molecular biology, ISSN-e 1699-5848, ISSN 0213-3911, Vol. 38, Nº. 9, 2023, págs. 1009-1016
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Diabetic nephropathy (DN) has become one of the major fatal factors in diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to elucidate the function and mechanism by which berberine exerts renoprotective effects in DN.

    In this work, we first demonstrated that urinary iron concentration, serum ferritin and hepcidin levels were increased and total antioxidant capacity was significantly decreased in DN rats, while these changes could be partially reversed by berberine treatment. Berberine treatment also alleviated DN-induced changes in the expression of proteins involved in iron transport or iron uptake. In addition, berberine treatment also partially blocked the expression of renal fibrosis markers induced by DN, including MMP2, MMP9, TIMP3, β-arrestin-1, and TGF-β1. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that berberine may exert renoprotective effects by ameliorating iron overload and oxidative stress and reducing DN.