Combination of cilostazol and probucol protected podocytes from lipopolysaccharide-induced injury by both anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative mechanisms

Podocytes are essential for maintaining kidney glomerular functions. Injuries to podocyte are closely related to the pathological process of proteinuria. However, a treatment for podocyte injury has still not been established. Cilostazol (CSZ) and probucol (PBC) have been shown to possess renoprotective effects. Therefore, we evaluated these drugs in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced podocyte injury model. 7-week-old female C57BL/6J mice were fed a normal diet or a diet containing 0.3% CSZ, 0.5% PBC, or both for 10 days. Then, mice were intraperitoneally injected with 13 μg g−1 body weight LPS. Both CSZ and PBC decreased LPS-induced albuminuria and co-administration was found to be most effective. These treatments ameliorated the upregulation of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1. In cultured podocytes, CSZ suppressed LPS-induced activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and phosphorylation of p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). PBC reduced LPS-induced activation of NF-κB and reactive oxygen species production. Furthermore, PBC decreased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase4 expression. Our findings suggest that CSZ and PBC are able to inhibit podocyte-injury through different mechanisms, indicating that a combination of these two old drugs is a good treatment option to protect podocytes from injury.