Effect of Genistein on expression of CTGF in rat renal mesangial cells stimulated by TGF-β_1

[Objective] To investigate the effect of Genistein on the expression of connective tissue growth factor(CTGF) in rat renal mesangial cells(MCs) stimulated with transforming growth factor (TGF) β1 and enquire further into the mechanism by which Genistein inhibits the renal fibrosis progression. [Methods] The MCs were divided into 4 groups: control group; Genistein with different concentrations group; 5 ng/mL TGF-β1 group; 5 ng/mL TGF-β1 + Genistein with different concentrations group, the concentrations were 50, 100 μmol/L. 24 hours later, the expression of CTGF mRNA were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), the expression of CTGF protein were detected by Western blot. [Results] Compared with control group, 50 μmol/L and 100 μmol/L Genistein cannot change markedly the expression of CTGF mRNA and protein lever(P 0.05). After TGF-β1 (5 ng/mL) was added in the medium of cultured MCs, the expression of CTGF mRNA and protein increased markedly at 24 hours compared with the control(P 0.01). Compared with TGF-β1 group, 50 μmol/L and 100 μmol/L Genistein can effectively suppress CTGF mRNA and protein lever stimulated by TGF-β1, of which the 100 μmol/L Genistein group had the most prominent effect (P 0.01). [Conclusion] Genistein could partly suppress the expression of CTGF gene and its protein stimulated by tgf-β1, which implies that Genistein probably decreases the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) and has the potential ability of anti-fibrosis.