Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major disease that endangers public health around the world. The urinary toxins produced in the disease can induce intestinal barrier damage and systemic inflammation, which further aggravates the disease and creates a vicious circle. Therefore, this work carried out cell-level research to determine the ability of Guben Xiezhuo colon dialysis recipe, an herbal compound used to treat CKD under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine, for colon dialysis to repair the intestinal barrier and to interfere with the entire process. Methods T84 cells were divided into six groups according to the level of urinary toxin content and the different drugs added: (1) control group; (2) low-dose urea model group; (3) high-dose urea model group; (4) Nrf2 activator group; (5) NF-κB inhibitor group; (6) Guben Xiezhuo recipe-containing serum group. The immunofluorescence technique was used to analyze the expression characteristics of intestinal epithelial tight junction protein occludin in intestinal epithelial cells in the intestinal barrier injury model. Western blot technology was used to analyze the expression of ZO-1 and claudin-1 in intestinal epithelial cells in the intestinal barrier injury model. RT-PCR technology was used to analyze the expression changes of Keap-1, Nrf2, ROS, and NF-κB mRNA in intestinal epithelial cells. ELISA was used to analyze the content of inflammatory signal hypersensitive C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in cell culture fluid. Results The results of immunofluorescence analysis and Western blot analysis demonstrated the ability of urinary toxins produced by CKD to destroy the intestinal barrier. The results of RT-PCR analysis explained the mechanism of urinary toxins destroying the intestinal barrier at the molecular level. The results of ELISA analysis indicate that the intestinal barrier damage will further induce systemic inflammation. Through the comparison of the above analysis results in the six groups, it can be shown that Guben Xiezhuo colon dialysis recipe has an excellent therapeutic effect on intestinal epithelial injury. Conclusion Through the detection and comparison of the contents of intestinal barrier-related proteins and inflammatory signal factors in each group, it is proven that the Guben Xiezhuo colon dialysis recipe has an excellent therapeutic effect on the repair of intestinal barrier damage and further inhibits the deterioration of CKD, which also provides an optional auxiliary strategy.
Zhang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.