ACTEOSIDE, A COMPONENT OF STACHYS SIEBOLDII MIQ, MAY BE A PROMISING ANTINEPHRITIC AGENT .3. EFFECT OF ACTEOSIDE ON EXPRESSION OF INTERCELLULAR-ADHESION MOLECULE-1 IN EXPERIMENTAL NEPHRITIC GLOMERULI IN RATS AND CULTURED ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS

It is known that adhesion molecules play a crucial role in the develop ment of glomerulonephritis. Therefore, we investigated the effects of acteoside on the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM -1) in nephritic glomeruli, in vivo, and human umbilical vein endothel ial cells (HUVECs) and rat mesangial cells, in vitro. Acteoside treatm ent significantly decreased the up-regulation of ICAM-1 expression in nephritic glomeruli. Acteoside prevented the up-regulation of ICAM-1 e xpression mediated by inflammatory cytokines or phorbol 12-myristate 1 3-acetate on HUVECs and rat mesangial cells. Adhesion of neutrophils a nd macrophages to acteoside-treated HUVECs was suppressed to one half of that in untreated HUVECs. These data support the finding that acteo side inhibits the up-regulation of ICAM-1 in the nephritic glomeruli. Additionally, it is suggested that the antinephritic action of acteosi de is due to the inhibition of intraglomerular accumulation of leukocy tes through the prevention of the upregulation of ICAM-1. This is the first paper demonstrating that the up-regulation of ICAM-1 in nephriti c glomeruli is inhibited by a natural product, acteoside.