Z YAO1
1Nephrology Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital Of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
Background and Aim: Oxidative stress (OS) is an important risk factor for vascular calcification (VC). Magnesium citrate (MgCit) had proven effective at preventing VC in uremic rats in our previous study. Conclusions about the relationships between magnesium (Mg) supplementation and OS levels varied among laboratories. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of MgCit on OS in uremia-related VC rats.
Methods: Rats were divided into five groups: the control group (normal diet); the MgCit control group (normal diet with MgCit); the model group (0.75% adenine and 0.9% phosphorus diet); model rats with low dose MgCit (375mg/kg) and model rats with high dose MgCit (750 mg/kg). All rats were sacrificed at day 43 with blood and aortas. VC-related staining, levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malonaldehyde (MDA) in serum and aorta, aorta dihydroethidium staining and mitochondria morphology of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were detected.
Results: Uremia model group had extensive VC and highly increased OS compared with control group, including the increased MDA and reduced SOD levels in serum and aortas, increased superoxide anion contents in aortas and mitochondria morphology damage of VSMCs. Treatment with MgCit reduced the extent of VC, reduced MDA and increased SOD levels in serum and aortas, reduced superoxide anion contents in aortas and improved mitochondrial damage of VSMCs.
Conclusions: MgCit reduces the extent of OS and VC in uremic rats, so its protective effects on uremia-related VC may be associated with reducing OS.
Biography:
Zhihui Yao is a Ph.D student in Nephrology Department from the Second Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (Xi’an, China). Now she is pursuing a year abroad study to further enrich her PhD training in University of California, Irvine. Zhihui Yao has been studying vascular calcification in vascular smooth muscle cells and rats model with chronic renal failure for 3 years. In previous study, she focused on how deficiency of the Nrf2 transcription factor may impact vascular health and liver expression of blood anti-calcification factors. She published 2 English papers as the first author in this field.