Abstract
Kidney stones are a common urological disorder with increasing prevalence worldwide. The treatment of kidney stones mainly relies on surgical procedures or extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, which can effectively remove the stones but also result in some complications and recurrence. Therefore, finding a drug or natural compound that can prevent and treat kidney stones is an important research topic. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of yellow tea on kidney stone formation and its mechanisms of action. We induced kidney stones in rats by feeding them an ethylene glycol diet and found that yellow tea infusion reduced crystal deposits, inflammation, oxidative stress, and fibrosis in a dose-dependent manner. Through network pharmacology and quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling, we analyzed the interaction network between the compounds in yellow tea and kidney stone-related targets and verified it through in vitro and in vivo experiments. Our results showed that flavonoids in yellow tea could bind directly or indirectly to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) protein and affect kidney stone formation by regulating PPARG transcription factor activity. In conclusion, yellow tea may act as a potential PPARG agonist for the prevention and treatment of renal oxidative damage and fibrosis caused by kidney stones.