EFFECTS OF A PRESCRIPTION OF CHINESE HERBAL MEDICINE ON SNAKE VENOM-INDUCED NEPHROPATHY IN MICE

A prescription of Chinese herbal medicine, tentatively named P-19, was examined for its inhibitory effect and its mechanism using an experim ental model of nephropathy induced by purified snake venom proteinase, Ac-1-proteinase (Ac-1-P). The treated mice were injected with 0.1 ml of crude extract of P-19 intraperitoneally every other day beginning 2 d before to 1 week after the injection of Ac-1-P. The non-treated mic e were injected with saline instead of the medicine P-19, The physiolo gical condition and histopathological observation of the mice at one w eek after Ac-1-P injection were better in the treated group than in th e non-treated group, This indicates that P-19 inhibited the production of glomerular lesions induced in mice by Ac-1-P. The physiological co ndition and histopathological changes in the mice were better with P-1 9 treatment than with P-3 treatment. Differences in the mechanism of a ction between the crude extract of P-3 and P-19 are not only in diuret ic action but also in the changes in the glomerular basement membrane, On the basis of spectrophotometric studies, phenolic carboxylates wer e confirmed to be contained in the crude extract of P-19, having a dif ferent chemical structure of caffeic acid, which is the effective comp onent in P-3. Immunohistochemical observation revealed a difference be tween the groups, In the non-treated mice, deposits of the venom were clearly observed in the glomerular tuft and Bowman's capsule, correspo nding to the histopathological changes, within 2.5 min after the injec tion of Ac-1-P. In the treated mice, the deposits were indistinct in t he Bowman's capsule. The difference was considered to be caused by cha nges in the glomerular basement membrane after P-19 treatment.