Objective To explore whether magnetotherapy is preventive in retarding diabetic kidney disease（DKD） progression and investigate underling molecular mechanisms related to its therapeutic efficacy. Methods Twenty-eight patients with type Ⅱ diabetes（T2D） were undergone pulsed electromagnetic fields（PEMF） stimulation at the acupoints of Píshū（脾俞 BL 20）, Zúsānl（足三里 ST 36）, Shènshū（肾俞 BL 23） and Yíshū（胰俞, EX-B3） for a period of 4 weeks. Urinary micro-albumin（U-m Alb） excretion, plasma methane dicarboxylic aldehyde（MDA and lipopolysaccharide（LPS） of the patients were used for evaluating therapeutic efficacies. Results After the acumagnetotherapy, U-m Alb excretion in the participated patients was markedly reduced（27.21±3.51 vs 8.51±0.95, P0.001） accompanied with decreased MDA（16.46±1.17 vs 12.40±1.86, P0.05） and LPS（37.41±3.84 vs 21.63±3.61, P0.05） levels in plasma while the metabolic control of these patients was not significantly altered. Acumagnetotherapy increased IκBα content（0.69±1.17 vs 1.30±0.29, P0.01）, an inhibitory protein of inflammatory response, and correspondingly reduced the protein levels of inflammatory activating proteins, NF-κB p65（0.98±0.42 vs 0.43±0.28, P0.05） and NF-κB p50（1.19±0.40 vs 0.76±0.30, P0.05）. The acumagnetotherapy also inhibited the oxidantproducing enzyme, Nox4 protein expression（1.32±0.40 vs 0.37±0.23, P0.05） in patient ＇s blood lymphocytes. Conclusion Short-term intervention of acumagnetotherapy in patients with T2 D mitigates DKD progress potentially by its anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects.
