Basic fibroblast growth factor reduces functional and structural damage in chronic kidney disease.

Area of Science:

• Nephrology
• Regenerative Medicine
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves progressive renal function loss.
• Kidney repair mechanisms exist but are not fully understood in CKD.
• Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) may enhance kidney repair.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate bFGF's effect on renal damage progression in a rat CKD model.
• To correlate repairing protein levels with renal damage in CKD.
• To explore bFGF's potential in promoting kidney regeneration.

Main Methods:

• 5/6 nephrectomy (NPX) model in Sprague-Dawley rats.
• Treatment groups: NPX with bFGF (NPX+bFGF) and NPX with saline (NPX+S).
• Assessment of renal function (serum creatinine), damage markers (ED-1, α-SMA, Sirius red), and molecular factors (VEGF, Tie-2, Oct-4, etc.).

Main Results:

• NPX+bFGF group showed reduced serum creatinine, ED-1, α-SMA, and collagen levels.
• Significant induction of renal stem cell marker (Oct-4), angiogenic factors, and repairing proteins in NPX+bFGF group.
• bFGF treatment mitigated morphological and functional renal damage.

Conclusions:

• bFGF treatment significantly reduces renal damage and improves function in a rat model of CKD.
• bFGF promotes the expression of regenerative and angiogenic factors, indicating enhanced kidney repair.
• These findings highlight bFGF as a potential therapeutic agent for mitigating CKD progression.