Aim To observe the effect of mineralocor-ticoid receptor blockade eplerenone on cell proliferation in obstructed kidney of rats. Methods Renal intersti-tial fibrotic animals were made with unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and treated with eplerenone100 mg · kg - 1 · d - 1 . The kidneys were harvested on the 10th day and proliferating cell nuclear antigen ( PC-NA ), serum and glucocorticoid induced kinase-1 (SGK-1 ) and transforming growth factor-β1 ( TGF-β1 ) were detected with immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Results Renal histopathology showed large quantities extracellular matrix (ECM) accumula-tion in kidney with UUO, large numbers of inflammato-ry cells infiltrated in renal interstitium, renal tubular expansion and exfoliation of epithelial cells . The cell proliferation and ECM accumulation were inhibited in eplerenone treated rats significantly. Immunohisto-chemistry and Western blot showed that expressions of PCNA,SGK-1 and TGF-β1 were significantly up-regu-lated with UUO and down-regulated by eplerenone. Conclusion Eplerenone plays the role in inhibiting the cell proliferation and reducing ECM accumulation by down-regulating expression of SGK-1 pathway in rats with unilateral ureteral obstruction.

Aim To observe the effect of eplerenone(EPL) and Chinese decoction on cell apoptosis in obstructive nephropathy rats.Methods Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham group, UUO group, EPL group and ZY group(n=15).Except sham group, the rats in the other groups were ligated with unilateral ureteral obstruction(UUO) for renal interstitial fibrosis model.The rats were treated with eplerenone at 100 mg·kg-1·d-1 added to diet in EPL group, and orally 13.7 g·kg-1·d-1 decoction of Chinese medicine in ZY group.The kidneys were harvested on 14th day, the number of renal cell apoptosis were detected by TUNEL, and serum aldosterone and 8-OhdG were detected with radioimmunoassay and ELISA.Caspase-12, caspase-9, Bax and Bcl-2 were examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot.Results The levels of serum aldosterone, serum and urine 8-OhdG and the number of positive apoptotic cells increased significantly in UUO rats compared with Sham group.The overexpression of caspase-9, caspase-12 and Bax and down-regulated Bcl-2 were obvious in UUO group(P<0.01).The level of 8-OhdG, expression of caspase-9, caspase-12 and Bax were down-regulated, and Bcl-2 expression was up-regulated in eplerenone and Chinese decoction treated rats(P<0.01).Conclusion Eplerenone and Chinese decoction could inhibit cell apoptosis induced by oxidative damage after UUO via caspases and(or) Bax pathway.