Effects of Low-Molecular-Weight-Chitosan on the Adenine- Induced Chronic Renal Failure Ratsin vitro andin vivo

Theeffects of low-molecular-weight-chitosan (LMWC) on chronic renal failure (CRF) rats induced by adenine were investigatedin vivoand in vitro. Chitosan were hydrolyzed using chitosanase at pH 6–7 and 37℃ for 24h to obtain LMWC.In vitro, the effect of LMWC on the proliferation of renal tubular epithelial cells (RTEC) showed that it had no cytotoxic effect and could promote cell growth. For theinvivo experiment, chronic renal failure rats induced by adenine were randomly divided into control group, Niaoduqing group, and high-, medium- and low-dose LMWC groups. For each group, we detected serum creatinine (SCR), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), glutathione oxidase (GSH-Px) activities of renal tissue, and obtained the ratio of kidney weight/body weight, pathological changes of kidney. The levels of serum SCR, BUN were higher in the adenine-induced rats than those in the controlgroup, indicating that the rat chronic renal failure model worked successfully. The re-sults after treatment showed that LMWC could reduce the SCR and BUN levels and enhance the activities/levels of T-SOD and GSH-PX in kidney compared to control group. Histopathological examination revealed that adenine-induced renal alterations were restored by LMWC at three tested dosages, especially at the low dosage of 100mgkg?1d?1.