Protective Effects of Blocking Renin-Angiotensin System on the Progression of Renal Injury in Glomerulosclerosis

To investigate the protective effects of blocking rennin-angiotensin system (RAS) on the progression of renal injury in glomerulosclerosis, a glomerulosclerosis model was made for SD rats by unilateral nephrectomy and being injected with Adriamycin into caudal vein. The rats with glomerulosclerosis were randomly divided as ten pergroup into those without further treatment (group D) and those treated with Benazepril (group DB), Losartan (group DL), or sham-operation (group C), respectively. After 6 weeks of administration of Benazepril or Losartan,the mRNA expressions of TGF-β1, Col Ⅳ, Fn, ET-1 and iNOS in renal cortex were measured by RT-PCR. Besides,the expressions of TGF-β1, ET-1 and iNOS at protein level were detected by Western blotting and the concentrations of Col Ⅳ and Fn were analyzed with immunohistochemistry respectively. Results showed that the rats in group D appeared as obvious proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia and hypercholesterolemia, which had a significant difference compared with group C (p＜0.05), and most of their mesangiums were detected with cellular proliferation and significant increasing for extracellular matrix. Renal cortex TGF-β1, Col Ⅳ, Fn, ET-1 and iNOS in rats of group D were increased by 3.59, 2.57, 2.21, 2.58 and 3.28 times at mRNA level, and by 2.60, 1.40, 0.75, 1.83 and 2.15 times at protein level, respectively, compared with group C. When the animals were treated with Benazepril (group DB) or Losartan (group DL), however, the biochemical and pathological damages were significantly recovered, and protein expressions of TGF-β, Col Ⅳ, Fn, ET-1 and iNOS were also significantly diminished (p＜0.05). This study suggested that blocking RAS using Benazepril or Losartan can have protective effects on the renal injury in glomerulosclerosis by down-regulating the expressions of TGF-β1, Col Ⅳ, Fn, ET-1 and iNOS. Cellular & Molecular Immunology. 2005;2(2):150-154.