Rhodomeroterpene alleviates macrophage infiltration and the inflammatory response in renal tissue to improve acute kidney injury

Abstract Inflammation is broadly recognized as an important factor in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury (AKI), but pharmacological approaches to alleviate inflammation in AKI have not been proved successful in clinical trials. Macrophage infiltration into renal tissue promotes inflammatory responses that contribute to the pathogenesis of AKI. Suppression of renal tissue inflammatory responses is postulated to improve renal injury of patients and animals. Rhodomeroterpene (RMT) is a novel meroterpenoid isolated from the Rhododendron genus that was shown to exert anti‐inflammatory action in vivo or in vitro in this study. We investigated the treatment effects of RMT on LPS‐induced sepsis and two different AKI models. The results showed that pretreatment with RMT (30 mg kg −1 d −1 , ip, for 3 days) significantly inhibited acute inflammatory responses in LPS‐induced septic mice. In both renal ischemia‐reperfusion injury (I/R) and sepsis‐induced AKI models, RMT (30 mg kg −1 d −1 , ip, for 3 days) ameliorated renal function and injury and alleviated inflammation by reducing the infiltration of immune cells, including macrophages and neutrophils. Furthermore, our study demonstrated that RMT inhibits inflammatory responses in macrophages. The anti‐inflammatory effects of RMT may be due to the inactivation of the IKK/NF‐κB and PI3K/PDK1/Akt inflammatory signaling pathways in macrophages. Collectively, our findings indicate that RMT ameliorates renal injury and alleviates the renal inflammatory state in different AKI models, suggesting that RMT may be a potential agent for the treatment of AKI.