Berberine nanoparticles protects tubular epithelial cells from renal ischemia-reperfusion injury

Renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is one of the most common causes of acute renal failure, the prognosis of which remains poor and there still lacks of effective therapeutics available in the clinic. This study aimed at investigating the effects of Berberine nanoparticles (BBR-NP) on the ischemia-reperfusion injury of renal tubular epithelial cells and underlying the mechanisms. Our results showed that in a rat model of renal I/R injury, BBR and BBR-NP protected renal against injury both functionally (as assessed by serum urea nitrogen and creatinine level) and morphologically (as assessed by HE staining, transmission electron microscopy and TUNEL staining) in a dose-dependent manner, with the effects of BBR-NP superior to BBR alone. Mechanism investigation showed that BBR-NP reversed oxidative stress and subsequent apoptosis of renal cells, as demonstrated by the decreased expression of proteins involved in the oxidative stress and mitochondrial stress pathways. In conclusion, our study showed that BBR-NP is superior to BBR alone in protecting renal against I/R injury and explored the underlying mechanisms, which should be tested in further studies and might give impetus to the development of novel therapeutics based on BBR-NP against renal I/R.