Chinese prescription Kangen-karyu ameliorates the development of diabetic renal damage using LLC-PK₁ cells and db/db mice

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine has received much attention as a source of novel therapeutic agents due to multiple beneficial effects and the absence of toxic and/or side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine influences changes at multi-system and multi-organ levels. The present study reports the therapeutic evidence for Kangen-karyu, one of our major compounds of interest among traditional Chinese medicine agents, from experimental models related to diabetic kidney. Firstly, we investigated the effects of Kangen-karyu on high glucose-induced oxidative stress using LLC-PK₁ cells, renal tubular cells, which are the renal cells most vulnerable to oxidative stress. Kangen-karyu has exhibited promising therapeutic potential against pathological conditions associated with hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress that occur in diabetes. Therefore, we investigated the effects of Kangen-karyu on damage to the kidney caused by diabetes-induced alterations such as advanced glycation endproduct formation and/or a fibrotic response in the kidney of type 2 diabetic db/db mice. Kangen-karyu showed renoprotective effects against the development of diabetic complications. To add to these findings, Kangen-karyu exhibited a pleiotropic effect on diabetes-induced alterations such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and morphological changes in the kidney of type 2 diabetic mice. These results provide important evidence that Kangen-karyu exerts a renoprotective effect against the development of diabetic nephropathy. They also provide scientific evidence that may explain the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine at multi-system levels.