Histol Histopathol, Vol 38, Wang et al.

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

Yujing Wang¹, Shuling Yue², Feng Cai³, Wen Zhu⁴, Yuxiang Zhong¹, Juanjuan Chen¹ and Chunyun Li⁵

¹Department of Hemodialysis, Haikou Affiliated Hospital of Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, ²Department of Renal Pathology, King Medical Diagnostics Center, Guanzhou, ³Department of Opthalmology, Haikou Affiliated Hospital of Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, ⁴College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Hainan and ⁵Clinical Laboratory, Haikou Affiliated Hospital of Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, Xiangya, China

Corresponding Author: Chunyun Li, Clinical Laboratory, Haikou Affiliated Hospital of Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, 570208 Xiangya, China. e-mail: lichunyun98628@163.com

Summary. 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. Histol Histopathol 38, 1009-1016 (2023)

Key words: Diabetic nephropathy, Iron overload, Oxidative stress, Berberine

DOI: 10.14670/HH-18-599