Luteolin (Lut) is a natural flavonoid with many biological activities which are ubiquitous in the diet. Renal anemia is a frequent complication of chronic kidney disease. However, the effect of Lut on renal anemia is not clear to date. This study firstly investigated the possible molecular mechanism that Lut protects against renal anemia in mice. Kunming mice received Lut (100 mg/kg) daily with or without mercuric chloride (HgCl₂) exposure for 16 weeks. Mice from HgCl₂ group displayed anemia, interestingly, Lut treatment alleviated it. The results of quantitative real-time PCR and western blot showed that Lut inhibited PHD2 in kidney, which is also confirmed by molecular docking study, and restored the expression of PHD2 downstream proteins, HIF-2α and erythropoietin. Furthermore, Lut suppressed renal oxidative stress via promoting the HIF-2α downstream antioxidant enzymes expression. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that Lut relieves renal anemia in mice via inhibiting PHD2/HIF-2α axis and oxidative stress.

木犀草素（Lutolin）是一种天然黄酮类化合物，具有许多在饮食中普遍存在的生物学活性。肾性贫血是慢性肾脏疾病的常见并发症。但是，Lut对肾性贫血的作用迄今尚不清楚。本研究首先研究了Lut保护小鼠抗肾性贫血的可能分子机制。昆明小鼠每天接受Lut（100 mg / kg ）暴露或不暴露于氯化汞（HgCl ₂），持续16周。HgCl _2引起的小鼠该组表现出贫血，有趣的是，Lut治疗减轻了它。实时荧光定量PCR和蛋白质印迹的结果表明，Lut抑制了肾脏中的PHD2，这也被分子对接研究所证实，并恢复了PHD2下游蛋白HIF-2α和促红细胞生成素的表达。此外，Lut通过促进HIF-2α下游抗氧化酶表达来抑制肾脏氧化应激。这些发现共同表明，Lut通过抑制PHD2 /HIF-2α轴和氧化应激来减轻小鼠的肾脏贫血。