Effects of chai ling tang on proteinuria in rat models.

Effects of Chai Ling Tang (a decoction of medicinal herbs) on passive Heymann nephritis (PHN) in rats, a model similar to human membranous nephropathy, were examined. Four hundred mg/kg (body weight) of Chai Ling Tang, or 240 mg/kg B.W. of Xiao Chai Hu Tang, or 130 mg/kg B.W. of Chai Hu (Radix Bupleuri), Ban Xia (Rhizoma Pinelliae) and Sheng Jiang (Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens) were intraperitoneally injected respectively into three groups of female Wistar rats once a day starting from 5 days before intravenous injection of anti-FxlA antibody to the end of the experiment. Another group of rats intraperitoneally injected with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was used as the control. It was found that the excretion of urinary protein was significantly suppressed in the Chai Ling Tang treated group (52.2 +/- 46.9 mg/day) as compared to that in the PBS control group (276.5 +/- 127.0 mg/day) 15 days after anti-FxlA antibody injection (P < 0.01). The decrease of serum albumin and total protein, and the increase of serum total cholesterol were significantly inhibited in the Chai Ling Tang treated group as compared to that in the control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.05 and P < 0.01 respectively). It is therefore concluded that proteinuria in PHN can be significantly suppressed by Chai Ling Tang.