Sairei-tô, one of the herb drugs, has been demonstrated to have several effects. Clinically, evidence have been accumulated showing that sairei-tô has been able to reduce the frequency of relapse in
minimal change nephrotic syndrome. It has also found that
sairei-to has improved proteinurial in
minimal change nephrotic syndrome as well as chronic
glomerulonephritis in man. Although the mechanism of such effects is still unclear, it is supposed that its immune modulating actions that has been reported. In this study, we quantitated the number of intrarenal Ia positive cells and T cells in nephrotoxic
nephritis in rats in order to clarify the intrarenal immune actions of sairei-tô on immune mediated
glomerulonephritis. Four groups of rats with nephrotoxic
nephritis were experimented on. The first group was the controlled group, had no treatment whatsoever. The second group was administered with MPSL (
solu-medrol 20 mg/kg, alternate day). The fourth group with both sairei-tô and MPSL. The level of
proteinuria in three groups treated was almost the same, that is, less than that of controlled group. On light microscopy, sairei-tô suppressed glomerular
inflammation such as endocapillary proliferative lesions and mesangial expansion, which were shown in controlled group. The histological improvement was almost the found in rats treated with MPSL and both. Sairei-tô suppressed infiltrations of intraglomerular Ia positive cells (P less than 0.01) and T cells (P less than 0.01) on the 7th day and 14th day as well. Remarkable suppression of T cells infiltration was noted in rats treated with MPSL along with
sairei-to on the 14th day (P less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)