Oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R)-mediated renal ischemia frequently results in increased apoptosis and heightened inflammation. Sap, a flavonoid extracted from Caesalpinia sappan L., possesses various cytoprotective activities. Here, researchers investigated the effects of Sap on HK-2 cells under OGD/R treatment. The results showed that Sap may be associated with renal ischemia. Furthermore, Sap alleviated OGD/R-mediated HK-2 cell damage by increasing cell viability and inhibiting apoptosis and inflammation. Sap also inhibited the activation of the TNFRSF1A/NF-κB signaling pathway. Moreover, upregulation of TNFRSF1A attenuated the inhibitory effect of Sap on OGD/R-mediated apoptosis and inflammation. In conclusion, Sap alleviates OGD/R-induced HK-2 cell damage by downregulating the TNFRSF1A/NF-κB signaling pathway, thus providing a theoretical basis for the treatment of renal ischemia.
To investigate whether TNFRSF1A overexpression could reverse the inhibitory effect of SAP in HK-2 cells, researchers conducted a rescue experiment. The results showed that in TNFRSF1A-overexpressing HK-2 cells treated with OGD/R and SAP, increased apoptosis rate (Figure 1A), enhanced LDH release (Figure 1B), and increased caspase-3 activity (Figure 1C) reversed the effects of SAP. Furthermore, the results confirmed that, compared to the OGD/R+Sap group, the expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-18 were significantly increased in TNFRSF1A-overexpressing HK-2 cells (Figures 2A-D). These results demonstrate that SAP alleviated HK-2 cell damage in the OGD/R model in a dose-dependent manner by downregulating TNFRSF1A.
Figure 1. TNFRSF1A overexpression mitigated the suppressive influence of Sap on OGD/R-mediated cell death. (Wang Q, et al., 2022)
Figure 2. TNFRSF1A upregulation lessened the suppressive effect of Sap on OGD/R-mediated inflammation. (Wang Q, et al., 2022)