Effects of puerarin on receptor for advanced glycation end products in nephridial tissue of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

To explore the effects of puerarin on mRNA expression of advanced glycation end products (AGE) specfic cellular receptor (RAGE) in renal cortex of diabetic rats induced by streptozotocin (STZ). We induced Diabetic rats by an intraperitoneal injection of STZ in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. 30 male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, diabetes adding puerarin group (DP group, n = 11, intraperitoneal injection of puerarin 100 mg/kg d), Diabetes group (D group, n = 11) and normal control group (C group, n = 8). The body weight (BW) and blood glucose (BG) were measured every 2 weeks. eight weeks later, all rats were sacrificed and the expression of RAGE mRNA was detected in renal cortex by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively, and renal AGEs content was determined by fluorescence microscopy. Compared with those of control group, the BW and BG were lower in DP group and D group at 8th week (P < 0.01). RAGE/beta-actin ratio were 0.263 +/- A 0.023, 0.435 +/- A 0.010, 0.141 +/- A 0.045, respectively, in DP group, D group and C group, and there was significant difference between every two groups (P < 0.01). The renal AGEs fluorescence intensity of DP group was weaker than D group, stronger than C group. Puerarin can protect the renal tissue from the impairment of hyperglycemia and AGE by decreasing AGEs centents and inhibiting of the expression of RAGE mRNA in the kidney.