Objective

2

To evaluate the pharmacological effect of Alismatis Rhizoma （AR） and its processed product on rats with edema of kidney Yin deficiency and explore the mechanism.

Method

2

A total of 42 male SPF SD rats were randomized into normal group （equivalent volume of distilled water）， model group （equivalent volume of distilled water）， positive medicine Liuwei Diguangwan group （1.4 g·kg

-1

）， low- and high-dose AR groups （1， 4 g·kg

-1

， respectively）， and low- and high-dose salt-processed AR （SAR） groups （1， 4 g·kg

-1

， respectively）， with six rats in each group. Adriamycin （tail vein injection） and thyroxine （gavage） were used to induce edema of kidney Yin deficiency in rats except the normal group. The administration lasted 4 weeks for all the groups. After the last administration， histopathological changes of rat kidneys were observed based on hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining. Serum content of triiodothyronine （T

3

）， thyroxine （T

4

）， follicle-stimulating hormone （FSH）， and testosterone （T） was determined by radioimmunoassay， and serum content of creatinine （CREA）， urea （UREA），cholesterol （CHOL） and triglyceride （TG） by automatic biochemical analyser. The levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone （GnRH）， cyclic adenosine monophosphate （cAMP）， and cyclic guanosine monophosphate （cGMP） in plasma were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）， and the expression of aquaporin（AQP）-1 and AQP-2 and the transcription of mRNA in kidney were measured by immunohistochemistry and real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR）， respectively.

Result

2

Compared with normal group， the rats in model group showed decrease in body mass and urine volume （

P

<

0.01）， increase in water consumption （

P

<

0.05）， infiltration of a large number of inflammatory cells and fibrous tissue proliferation in the kidney， rise of the expression and transcript levels of T

3

， T

4

， cAMP/cGMP， CREA， FSH， AQP-1， and AQP-2 （

P

<

0.01）， the contents of CHOL and TG were significantly increased （

P

<

0.05）， and reduction in the levels of GnRH and T （

P

<

0.01）. Body mass increased in both the low- and high- dose groups of AR and SAR compared with that in model group， with significant differences between the low-dose AR group and the low-dose SAR group （

P

<

0.01）. Moreover， compared with model group， low- and high-dose AR and SAR insignificantly increased the urine volume of rats， reduced the inflammatory cells in kidney tissues， significantly decreased the levels of T

4

， cAMP/cGMP， UREA， CREA， FSH， CHOL and TG in serum （

P

<

0.05，

P

<

0.01）， and elevated the level of GnRH （

P

<

0.01）， high-dose AR， low- and high-dose SAR significantly lowered the transcription levels of AQP-1 and AQP-2 mRNA in the kidneys of rats （

P

<

0.01）.

Conclusion

2

Both AR and SAR alleviated the edema of kidney Yin deficiency in rats by down-regulating the expression of AQP-1 and AQP-2 and correcting the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal （HPG） axis disorder.