Roflumilast alleviates adenine-induced chronic kidney disease by regulating inflammatory biomarkers

The present investigation was carried out to explore the role of roflumilast, a PDE4 inhibitor, as a potential treatment option for chronic kidney disease. Forty-six male Wistar rats were divided into five groups: Control, Disease control (50 mg/kg Adenine p.o.), Adenine + Roflumilast (0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg/kg, p.o.). Various urinary and serum biomarkers, antioxidant status, histopathology, and protein expression of inflammatory markers were measured to investigate the effects of roflumilast on kidney functions. Adenine was found to elevate the levels of serum creatinine, urea, uric acid, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, and phosphorus and reduce the level of serum calcium. Further, adenine significantly increased the serum TGF-β levels and reduced the anti-oxidant indices. Significant elevation was observed in protein expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, MCP-1, ICAM-1, and Fibronectin. Histopathologically, adenine caused thickening of the glomerular basement membrane, inflammatory cells infiltration, atrophy, and glomeruli deterioration. However, Roflumilast administration (1 mg/kg) remarkably decrease serum creatinine, urea, uric acid, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorus by 61%, 40%, 44%, 41%, 49%, 58%, 59% and 42% respectively, and increase in calcium by 158%. Moreover, Roflumilast (1 mg/kg) significantly reduced serum TGF-β levels by 50% and elevated anti-oxidant indices by 257%, 112%, and 60%, respectively. The protein expression was significantly reduced by 5.5-fold, 7-fold, 5.7-fold, 6.2-fold, and 5.1-fold individually. Roflumilast noticeably improved the structure of glomeruli, tubules, and cellular functioning. The study confirmed that Roflumilast has the potential to ameliorate renal injury by reducing and regulating inflammatory responses.