Objective To investigate the mechanism of Heshen pill in the treatment of proteinuria and dyslipidemia in adriamycin nephropathy rats through the regulation of angiopogenin-like protein 3 (ANGPTL3).

Methods Fifty male SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups with 10 rats in each group.The blank group was given distilled water by gavage every morning without special treatment; the model group was given distilled water by gavage every morning after successful modeling; the Heshen pill group was given Heshen pill by gavage every morning after successful modeling; the control group was given prednisone by gavage every morning after successful modeling; the combined treatment group was given prednisone and Heshen pill by gavage every morning after successful modeling.Each group was gavaged for 8 weeks.The behavioral changes of rats in each group were closely observed during the period of modeling and the research.The levels of 24 h urinary protein at 1 day before modeling and at the end of 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after modeling were detected and compared.At the same time, the various serum lipid indexes such as TC, TG, LDL-C, HDL-C, and serum expression level of ANGPTL3 were detected and compared.The correlation between serum ANGPTL3 expression level and blood lipid indexes, 24 h urinary protein level at the end of the eighth week after modeling was analyzed.

Results All behavioral changes of rats in Heshen pill group, control group, and combined treatment group were better than that in model group at 8 weeks after modeling.There was no significant difference in the 24 h urinary protein level before 1 d of modeling among all groups (P>0.05).The 24 h urinary protein levels in the model group, Heshen pill group, control group, and combined treatment group were all significantly higher than that in blank group at 2 and 4 weeks after modeling (P < 0.05), while there was no significant difference among each group (P>0.05).The 24 h urinary protein levels in Heshen pill group and control group were significantly higher than that in combined treatment group and lower than that in model group at 6 and 8 weeks after modeling (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between Heshen pill group and control group (P>0.05).The serum lipid indexes, including TC, TG, LDL-C, and the expression level of serum ANGPTL3 in model group, Heshen pill group, control group and combined treatment group were significantly higher than those in blank group (P < 0.05), while the HDL-C in each group was significantly lower than that in blank group (P < 0.05).TC, TG, LDL-C and ANGPTL3 in Heshen pill group and control group were lower than those in model group and combined treatment group (P < 0.05).HDL-C was higher than those in model group and combined treatment group (P < 0.05), while there was no statistical significance between Heshen pill group and control group (P>0.05).The expression level of serum ANGPTL3 in each group was positively correlated with TC, TG, LDL-C and 24 h urine protein (P < 0.05 to P < 0.01), while negatively correlated with HDL-C (P < 0.05 to P < 0.01).

Conclusions Heshen pill may play a role in treatment of albuminuria and dyslipidemia in rats with adriamycin nephropathy through the regulation of ANGPTL3.