Blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) offers superior renoprotection in the treatment of patients with hypertension, but the efficacy of RAAS inhibition strongly depends on sodium status, presumably in relation to extracellular volume status. Because assessing volume status by physical examination is challenging, 24-hour urine collection and NT-proBNP levels are useful too...

Inflammation significantly contributes to the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study aimed to characterize Danggui Buxue Tang (DBT) renoprotection and relationship with NOD-like receptors family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome expression in rats with unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to UUO and randomly assigned to untreate...

The pathogenic role of inflammation and oxidative stress in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is well known. Anti-inflammatories and antioxidant drugs has demonstrated significant renoprotection in experimental nephropathies. Moreover, the inclusion of natural antioxidants derived from food and herbal extracts (such as polyphenols, curcumin and lycopene) as an adjuvant therapy for slowing CKD progre...

The aim of our work was to evaluate, in an animal model of severe diabetes mellitus, the effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) administration on diabetic nephropathy (DN) progression. After diabetes induction, one group of mice received the vehicle (DM) and other group received a single dose of MSCs (DM + MSCs). DM + MSCs mice showed a significant improvement in functional parameters of the k...

It is postulated that localized tissue oxidative stress is a key component in the development of diabetic nephropathy. There remains controversy, however, as to whether this is an early link between hyperglycemia and renal disease or develops as a consequence of other primary pathogenic mechanisms. In the kidney, a number of pathways that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as glycolysi...

Angiotensin-(1-7) [Ang-(1-7)] is a biologically active heptapeptide that may counterbalance the physiological actions of angiotensin II (Ang II) within the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Here, we evaluated whether activation of the Mas receptor with the oral agonist, AVE 0991, would have renoprotective effects in a model of adriamycin (ADR)-induced nephropathy. We also evaluated whether the Ma...

Erythropoietin (EPO) is traditionally described as a hematopoietic cytokine or growth hormone regulating proliferation, differentiation, and survival of erythroid progenitors. The use of EPO in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) was a milestone achievement in the treatment of anemia. However, EPO involves some degree of risk, which increases with increasing hemoglobin levels. A growing ...

Acute kidney injury is associated with a significant inflammatory response that has been the target of renoprotection strategies. Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) are anti-inflammatory cytochrome P450-derived eicosanoids that are abundantly produced in the kidney and metabolized by soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH; Ephx2) to less active dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids. Genetic disruption of Ephx2 a...