ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of rapamycin on human lens epithelial cells (HLECs) against high glucose-induced oxidative stress.Methods A oxidative damage model of HLECs induced by high glucose was established,and intervention with different concentrations of rapamycin for the cells was performed for detecting the survival rate by CCK-8 assay,observing cell morphology by inverted microscope,and measuring the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) by H2DCFDA staining,as well as determining the expression of apoptosis related Bcl-2 and Bax proteins by Western blot in all groups.Results CCK-8 results showed that the survival rate of HLECs was increased to 62.00％ ± 3.74％ and 79.57％ ± 5.26％ after treated with 10 nmol · L-1 and 100 nmol · L 1 rapamycin,and the difference was statistically significant when compared with the high glucose group (42.32％ ± 3.10％) (all P ＜ 0.05);H2DCFDA fluorescent probe staining demonstrated that rapamycin could suppress ROS generation in HLECs and alleviate oxidative damage to cells;besides,rapamycin could downregulate the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax protein in HLECs and the inhibitory effects were positively correlated with the concentration of rapamycin.Conclusion Rapamycin can inhibit high glucose-induced oxidative damage and apoptosis m human HLECs,which provides a prevention effect for diabetic cataract.