{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T17:53:01Z","timestamp":1787593981003,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,25]],"date-time":"2019-02-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1551052800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Major Science and Technology Project of Prevention and Treatment of AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, and Other Major Infectious Diseases","award":["Grant #2013ZX10005004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Grant #2013ZX10005004"]}]},{"name":"Major Project of Science and Technology of Shandong Province","award":["Grant #2018CXGC1411"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Grant #2018CXGC1411"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: Diabetic nephropathy, a microvascular complication of diabetes, is one of the principal causes of end-stage renal disease worldwide. The aim of this study was to explore the therapeutic effects of ergosterol on diabetic nephropathy. (2) Methods: Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced C57BL\/6 diabetic mice were treated with ergosterol (10, 20, 40 mg\/kg\/day) for 8 weeks by oral gavage. The in vitro study employed rat mesangial cells exposed to 30 mM glucose for 48 h in the presence of 10 or 20 \u03bcM ergosterol. (3) Results: Ergosterol treatment improved body weights, ameliorated the majority of biochemical and renal functional parameters and histopathological changes, and reduced extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in diabetic mice. In vitro, ergosterol suppressed proliferation, reduced the levels of ECM proteins, and increased the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 in high glucose-induced mesangial cells; Furthermore, ergosterol markedly improved transforming growth factor-\u03b21 (TGF-\u03b21) expression, enhanced phosphorylation levels of drosophila mothers against decapentaplegic 2 (Smad2), and regulated the downstream factors in vivo and in vitro. (4) Conclusions: Ergosterol alleviated mesangial cell proliferation and the subsequent ECM deposition by regulating the TGF-\u03b21\/Smad2 signaling pathway.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu11020483","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,25]],"date-time":"2019-02-25T10:56:53Z","timestamp":1551092213000},"page":"483","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":38,"title":["Ergosterol Ameliorates Diabetic Nephropathy by Attenuating Mesangial Cell Proliferation and Extracellular Matrix Deposition via the TGF-\u03b21\/Smad2 Signaling Pathway"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Zhonghua","family":"Dong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yueyue","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guangwei","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Siying","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8679-3130","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhongxi","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China"},{"name":"Shandong Engineering &amp; Technology Research Center for Jujube Food and Drug, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"249","DOI":"10.1007\/s00109-016-1485-1","article-title":"Aptamers: Novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools for diabetes mellitus and metabolic diseases","volume":"95","author":"Hu","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. 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