Significantly ameliorated podocyte apoptosis, increased nephrin and podocin levels and inhibited expression of β-arrestin-1 were observed after pretreatment of tripterygium glycoside in DKD mouse serum treated podocytes.
CONCLUSIONS These results provide a molecular pathomechanism of β-arrestin 1/2 and Wnt/β-catenin pathway on podocyte apoptosis and provide new ideas for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy, which paves the way for the future study of diabetic nephropathy and podocytes.
Collectively, this study for the first time demonstrates that β-arrestin-1 and β-arrestin-2 mediate podocyte autophagic activity, indicating that β-arrestins are critical components of signal transduction pathways that link renal injury to reduce autophagy in DN.