10.Diabetic nephropathy is characterized by the accumulation of mesangium matrix, thickening of the glomerular capillary and tubular basement membrance. These physiological changes in the kidney structure contribute to the loss of the renal function in diabetic patients. In STZ-diabetic rats, administration of puerarin (80mg/kg/d, i.p.) noticeably diminished urinary albumin excretion, blood glucose, urea nitrogen and creatinine levels and enhanced renal creatinine clearance (Li et al., 2009, 2008). in uninephrectomised STZ-diabetic rats, puerarin improved the declined renal functions and promoted the protein 

And mRNA expressions of collagen IV, matrix metalloproteinases-2(MMP-2) and tissue inhibitors matrix metalloproteinases-2(TIMP-2). Studies have shown that the progression of diabetic nephropathy is associated with the over expressions of collagen IV, MMP-2 and TIMP-2, and puerarin seems to effectively attenuate their expressions in the kidney. Furthermore, administration of puerarin (100 mg/kg/d, i.p.) suppressed the content of advanced glycation end-products(AGE) and mRNA expression of the receptor for advanced glycation end-products(RAGE) in the renal cortex (Shen et al., 2009). AGE-RAGE interaction activates a number of secondary signal pathways implicated in the development of diabetic nephropathy, including stimulation of PKC and NF-κB and production of a number of growth factors and cytokines such as VEGF, interleukin-1 and TGF-α.

The evidence presented in this review has illustrated that Gegen has great potential to be integrated into conventional medical practice for the treatment and management of metabolic syndromes, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and its complications.

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