[Inhibitory effects of pretreatment with Buyanghuanwu decoction on inflammatory cytokine expressions in the kidneys of rats after induction of brain death].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the inhibitiory effects of pretreatment with Buyanghuanwu decoction (BYHWT) on inflammatory cytokine expressions in the kidneys and the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by peripheral blood neutrophils of rats after induction of brain death (BD), and to investigate the effect of BYHWT on the improvement of kidney quality from BD donor. METHODS: 30 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group, BD model group and BYHWT group. 6 hours after successful onset of brain death,only the BD rats whose mean arterial blood pressure were higher than 80 mmHg were accepted as donors. Kidneys were harvested and peripheral blood was taken from BD rats. RT-PCR was used to detect the expressions of TNF-a and IL-lpfl mRNA. Western blot was adopted to analyze the expressions of both TNF-alpha and IL-lp protein,and the expression of phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p-p38MAPK). Reactive oxygen species( ROS) in the peripheral blood neutrophils were labeled with CM-H2DCFDA and then detected with Flow Cytometry. RESULTS: The expressions of both TNF-alpha and IL-1beta mRNA and protein, and the p-p38MAPK proteins all significantly increased in BD group compared with control group (P < 0.01). However, those in BYHWT group statistically decreased compared with BD group (P < 0.05), but they significantly increased in comparison with control group (P < 0.01). There was a close relation between the expression of p-p38MAPK protein and the expressions of both TNF-a and IL-1beta mRNA and protein. ROS level significantly increased in BD group (P < 0.05 ), whereas it significantly decreased in BYHWT group (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between BYHWT group and control group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Pretreatment of the rats with BYHWT prior to the induction of rat brain death, can significantly suppress the expressions of inflammatory cytokines and ROS level in the kidneys of rats from BD. It might be related to the blockage of key target points in p38MAPK signaling pathway. Therefore pretreatment with BYHWT could hopefully be an ideal way to improve the quality of kidneys from brain dead donors prior to transplantation.