Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Protective role of Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi decoction on aristolochic acid-intoxicated zebrafish

Jen-Ning Tsai^1,2, Yu-Ju Ding³, Kang-Chieh Lo³, Ping-Hsun Lu⁴, Chiung-Fang Chang⁵, Chi-Chung Wen⁶, Bo-Cheng Wang³ , Ling-Ling Yang⁷, Yau-Hung Chen³

¹Department of Medical Laboratory and Biotechnology; ²Clinical Laboratory, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung; ³Department of Chemistry, Tamkang University; ⁴Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, New Taipei City; ⁵Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei; ⁶Department of Mathematics, Tamkang University, New Taipei City; ⁷School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.

For correspondence:- Bo-Cheng Wang Email: yauhung@mail.tku.edu.tw

Accepted: 21 February 2021 Published: 31 March 2021

Citation: Tsai J, Ding Y, Lo K, Lu P, Chang C, Wen C, et al. Protective role of Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi decoction on aristolochic acid-intoxicated zebrafish. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(3):605-611 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i3.24

© 2021 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the potential nephroprotective effects of a traditional Chinese medical prescription, Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi Decoction (BZYQD) in an aristolochic acid (AA)-intoxicated zebrafish model.

Methods: A green fluorescent zebrafish line Tg (wt1b:EGFP) was used, and different exposure protocols were applied. Once a suitable protective concentration of BZYQD was found, antibody staining and real-time PCR methods were applied and the pro-inflammatory gene expressions were determined.

Results: The results showed that low dose (10 ppm) of BZYQD attenuates the AA-induced malformed kidney phenotype. This finding was further substantiated by an examination of the integrity of pronephric tubes in the treated embryos. Pre-treatment with BZYQD suppressed the elevated expressions of pro-inflammatory genes, including tumor necrosis factor-α and myeloperoxidase, induced by AA exposure (1.6 ~ 2.3-fold). This indicates that the nephroprotective effect of BZYQD may be mediated by suppression of pro-inflammatory gene expression. On the other hand, a high dose (500 ppm) of BZYQD caused nephrotoxic effect.

Conclusion: An efficient model to identify AA-protective compounds using zebrafish embryos has been successfully established. Using this strategy, it has been found that BZYQD is nephroprotective in zebrafish embryos, and might have the potential to be applied in humans.

Keywords: Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi Decoction, Zebrafish; Kidney, Aristolochic acid, Nephroprotection