Chronic kidney disease （CKD） has become a worldwide health and social problem. Retarding its progression to end-stage renal disease is beneficial both to the patients and the healthcare system. Plenty of clinical trials have indicated that enema with Chinese medicine could effectively prevent chronic renal failure, and was widely used in the clinical practice. However, studies on mechanism were still nearly blank, which may prevent further improvement of therapeutic efficacy. Recent studies had discovered that colon was an important organ where uremic toxins were generated. The uremic toxins involved could not only promote CKD progression, but also was closely correlated with CKD mortality. Reducing production and promoting excretion of toxins were confirmed to reduce renal tubule interstitial fibrosis and delay renal progression. On the basis of the theory of gut-kidney axis above, we had conducted pilot clinical researches to evaluate the effect of enema with Chinese medicine on the intestinal flora, gut barrier, enterogenous uremic toxins and renal protection. The preliminary results revealed that rheum enema through colon could accelerate intestinal dynamics, improve intestinal barrier function, regulate intestinal flora and reduce production and absorption of intestine-derived uremic toxins such as indoxyl sulfate, which may reduce renal fibrosis and delay renal progression. Further studies could provide more evidence for colon as a new therapeutic target for the treatment of CKD with Chinese medicine.
慢性肾脏病(CKD)正日益成为全球性的社会问题,延缓CKD的进展具有重要经济和社会意义。近年研究发现,结肠是产生尿毒症毒素的重要器官之一,肠源性尿毒素与CKD的预后密切相关,因此国外学者提出了延缓CKD进展的肠-肾轴理论(The Theory of Gut-kidney Axis),成为研究的热点。中药结肠给药治疗CKD在临床广泛应用,大量的临床报道提示其可延缓肾衰进展,但临床研究质量偏低,限制了其进一步推广应用。本研究在广东省中医院肾病科学术带头人——黄春林教授应用通腑泄浊法治疗CKD思路的指导下,结合最新肠肾轴理论,开展了一系列探索性研究,并提出了进一步临床和实验研究的思路,为日后开展高质量的临床研究,获得高级别的临床证据提供数据和方法学基础。
