Scientific Basis for Traditional Medicines in Renal Disease Ching-Yuang Lin*

Abstract: Cordyceps Sinensis (CS) is a parasitic fungus that has been used as a Chinese medi-cine for a long time in the treatment of nephritis. In this study, we established an in vitro model that showed that cultured human mesangial cells (HMC) stimulated with interleukin-1 (IL-1) plus IL-6 can cause mesangial cell proliferation, increasing production of chemical mediators and superoxide anion. An in vivo model also proved that this culture medium might lead to renal injury with hematuria and proteinuria. We cultured HMC, and then an HMC activating model with HMC incubated with IL-1 and IL-6 was established. We fractionated the crude methanolic extracts from fruiting bodies of CS with the use of this in vitro inhibition of HMC activation model as our assay method. Then we established an IgAN animal model with R36A (Pneumo-coccal C-polysaccharide purified from Streptococcus pneumoniae) as antigen and anti-R36A IgA monoclonal antibody to form nephritogenic IgA-IC, which can induce hematuria and proteinuria in mice with IgA deposition in the mesangial area. The fruiting bodies were extracted by silica gel column chromatography. One out of 6 column fractions, F-2, significantly inhibited the HM