3.9 The renal protective effect of leonurine on CI-AKI is dependent on Nrf2 in mice
We further evaluated whether the protective effect of leonurine on CI-AKI was dependent on Nrf2 using Nrf2 KO mice. As shown in Fig. 9A and B, leonurine significantly decreased the cisplatin-induced upregulation of SCr and BUN in the sera of wild-type mice, but these effects were nearly abolished in Nrf2 KO mice. Renal HE staining and protein expression of KIM1 and NGAL further demonstrated that the protective effect of leonurine on kidney damage was almost abrogated in Nrf2 KO mice (Fig. 9C-E, G). Moreover, the expression levels of Nrf2 and the downstream regulatory factors HO-1 and NQO1 were obviously increased in wild-type mice but not in Nrf2 KO mice (Fig. 9E-F).