摘要：Shichimotsu-koka-to (SKT) has been prescribed to treat patients with essential and renal hypertension. We investigated the effects of SKT on renal lesions in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSPs). SHRSPs were gievn an extarct of SKT by mixing it with drinking water, from 8 through 29 weeks of age, so that the average intake of SKT extract was about 1.5 g/kg/d. At 29 weekd of age, the kidneys of SHRSPs exhibited proliferative arteritis characterized by the proliferation of smooth muscle cells in the interloubular arteries, dilation and degeneration of renal tubules, infiltration of inflammatory cells and hemorrhage, with partial swelling or necrotizing of glomeruli. In particular, arteritis and periarteritis were noted. The treatment of SHRSPs with SKT ameliorated this morphological damage in the kidney and significantly decreased urea nitrogen in the serum. Treatment with SKT also strongly decreased the xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity and significantly increased the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in the kidney of SHRSPs; consequently, these values became close to those in normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats (WKYs). These results indicate that treatment with SKT ameliorated the histopathological damage and change in activity of enzymes related to free radicals in the kidney of SHRSPs, which may be important mechanisms for SKT for protecting SHRSPs from renal dysfunction.
关键词：stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP);renal lesion;histopathology;Shichimotsu-koka-to (Qi-Wu-Jiang-Xia-Tang);free radical
