Nephroprotective Effects of N-Acetylcysteine Amide against Contrast-Induced Nephropathy through Upregulating Thioredoxin-1, Inhibiting ASK1/p38MAPK Pathway, and Suppressing Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis in Rats

Table 1

Effects of NACA on renal function parameters. The baseline levels of Scr, BUN, CysC, UNAG, and UGGT did not differ among the groups. In CIN rats, BUN, Scr, CysC, UNAG, and UGGT were markedly increased on day 5 as compared to CON rats (). Pretreatment with NAC or NACA attenuated the effect of CM, and the increases in Scr, BUN, CysC, UGGT, and UNAG were significantly lower than in CIN group ( or 0.01). At the same dose (150 mg/kg/d), NACA was significantly more effective than NAC (CIN+NACA2 versus CIN+NAC).

	CON ()	CIN ()	CIN+NAC ()	CIN+NACA1 ()	CIN+NACA2 ()
Scr (mol/l)
Baseline	23.30 ± 3.12	22.38 ± 3.07	23.35 ± 4.52	23.45 ± 2.72	24.75 ± 3.28
Day 8	22.49 ± 2.65	82.23 ± 13.08	52.89 ± 11.33	50.71 ± 7.03	37.12 ± 5.69
Serum BUN (mmol/l)
Baseline	5.83 ± 0.82	5.91 ± 0.84	5.52 ± 1.03	5.70 ± 0.29	5.62 ± 0.78
Day 8	5.77 ± 0.44	44.54 ± 6.54	16.45 ± 2.42	15.79 ± 2.87	10.65 ± 2.08
Serum Cystatin-C (U/l)
Baseline	1.04 ± 0.05	1.15 ± 0.20	1.19 ± 0.31	1.13 ± 0.16	1.11 ± 0.19
Day 8	1.28 ± 0.25	6.71 ± 1.30	3.55 ± 0.89	3.25 ± 0.91	2.92 ± 0.61
UNAG (U/l)
Baseline	33.71 ± 5.20	35.25 ± 5.38	35.60 ± 3.20	35.95 ± 6.12	33.12 ± 5.50
Day 8	35.55 ± 6.18	69.27 ± 10.28	51.25 ± 7.37	48.69 ± 8.27	41.50 ± 9.50
UGGT (IU/l)
Baseline	667.74 ± 89.10	648.26 ± 112.08	650.38 ± 117.90	640.73 ± 59.07	639.41 ± 137.55
Day 8	673.28 ± 26.69	6690.15 ± 257.48	3236.77 ± 536.80	3064.73 ± 350.29	2537.17 ± 400.50

Data are means ± SD. versus CON, versus CON, versus CIN, versus CIN, and versus CIN+NAC.