Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with an increased risk of developing advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). Yet, effective interventions to prevent this conversion are unavailable for clinical practice. In this study, we examined the beneficial effects of Tanshinone IIA on renal fibrosis in a mouse model of folic acid induced AKI. We found that Tanshinone IIA treatment significantly attenuated the folic acid elicited kidney dysfunction on days 3, 14, and 28. This effect was concomitant with a much lessened accumulation of fibronectin and collagen in tubulointerstitium 28 days after folic acid injury, denoting an ameliorated renal fibrosis. The kidney protective and antifibrotic effect of Tanshinone IIA was likely attributable to an early inhibition of renal recruitment of fibrocytes positive for both CD45 and collagen I. Mechanistically, Tanshinone IIA treatment not only markedly diminished renal expression of chemoattractants for fibrocytes such as TGFβ1 and MCP-1, but also significantly reduced circulating fibrocytes at the acute phase of kidney injury. These data suggested that Tanshinone IIA might be a novel therapy for preventing progression of CKD after AKI.
