Balanophora polysaccharide improves renal injury and fibrosis in db/db diabetic nephropathy mice via NLRP3 inflammasome mediated inflammation

Chaoxi Tian¹Aolong Ma²Tianying Song¹Fangyu Zhao¹Jing Huang¹Jianhong Gao¹Honglin Yan²Xianbing Chen^1*

• ¹Hubei Minzu University Medical School, Enshi, China
• ²Department of Pathology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major diabetes complication, with renal fibrosis leading to renal function decline. Understanding interventions for DN renal injury and fibrosis is vital. In this study, we first investigated the effect of the natural traditional Chinese Medicine, balanophora polysaccharide (BPS), on renal injury and renal fibrosis in db/db diabetic nephropathy mice in vivo. Remarkably, BPS substantially reduces body weight, along with blood glucose and lipid levels in db/db mice. Additionally, it enhances kidney function and effectively improves renal injury. Moreover, BPS reduces the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and inhibits ECM deposition, thereby decelerating the progression of DN fibrosis and decreasing cell apoptosis. Notably, BPS effectively inhibited the activity of NLRP3 inflammasome in the renal tissue of db/db mice, which in turn mitigates the inflammatory response and fibrosis within the kidneys. In conclusion, BPS can improve renal injury and renal fibrosis in db/db diabetic nephropathy mice, which may be related to decrease of apoptosis, inhibition of inflammation, reduction of ECM, and regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome. Thus, this study provides a modern biological basis for the clinical application of BPS in the treatment of renal fibrosis in DN and is expected to promote the drug development and clinical application of BPS.