Influence of Salvia miltiorrhiza on expression of VEGF in kidney tissue in experimental diabetic nephropathy rats and its curative effects

Objective: To investigate the influence of Salvia miltiorrhiza on expression of VEGF in the kidney of diabetic rats and its curative effects.Methods:Streptozotocin(STZ) was injected through abdominal cavity to make models of diabetic rats.Wistar rats were randomly divided into the normal control rat group,the model control group and Salvia miltiorrhiza curative group.After administration for 8 weeks,the rats were observed in their indexes of blood glucose(BG),body weight(BW),kidney weight/ body weight(KW/BW),blood urea nitrogen(BUN),chol(CHO),creatinine clearance rate(Ccr),urine albumin excretion rate(UAER)and pathological change of renal tissue.The expression of VEGF protein in renal tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry.Results: There was a significant difference in levels of above parameters between the normal control rat group and the model control group(P0.01).Compared with the model control group,the index of KW/BW was lower(P0.05),the index of Ccr was higher(P0.01),and the indexes of BUN,CHO and UAER were markedly lower(P0.01) in Salvia miltiorrhiza curative group.Compared with the normal control rat group,the expression of VEGF was higher in renal tissue of model control group(P0.01).The expression of VEGF was reduced(P0.05) by using Salvia miltiorrhiza.Conclusion: Salvia miltiorrhiza may have a protective effect on renal function of DM rats.The mechanism may be that Salvia miltiorrhiza can depress the expression of VEGF in the kidney.