Verbascoside alleviates renal fibrosis in unilateral ureteral obstruction rats by inhibiting macrophage infiltration

Objective(s): To explore the effect of verbascoside on renal fibrosis in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) rats.Materials and Methods: Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly distributed into shamoperated, UUO, and UUO+Verbascoside groups. After two weeks of rat model construction, urine and blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis while kidney tissues were harvested for hematoxylin and eosin (H E), Masson’s Trichrome, and immunohistochemistry staining. Pearson coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between the two proteins. Results: Verbascoside improved UUO-induced renal dysfunction as detected by decreased serum creatinine, urea nitrogen, and urinary protein excretion rate. In UUO rats, H E staining result revealed increased total nucleated cell number, and Masson’s Trichrome staining results showed tubular interstitial fibrosis with the deposition of collagen fibrils. Besides, expressions of fibrosis-related proteins including collagen type I (COL-I), αsmooth muscle actin (a-SMA), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP2) expressed higher in the UUO group. Moreover, macrophage infiltrationrelated factors such as CD68+, F4/80+ cells, and suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3) were significantly higher in the UUO group than in shamoperated rats. However, after administration with verbascoside, the accumulation of collagen fibrils and total nucleated cell numbers were mitigated. Likewise, macrophage infiltration was extenuated and fibrosisrelated proteins were down-regulated in the UUO+Verbascoside rats. Correlation analysis indicated that macrophage infiltrationrelated markers were related to fibrosis-related factors .Conclusion: Verbascoside could alleviate renal fibrosis in UUO rats probably through ameliorating macrophage infiltration.