Protective effect of Astragulus polysaccharide on DNA damage in human BM-MSCs exposed to formaldehyde / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the protective effect of Astragalus Polysaccharide (APS) on DNA damage in human BM-MSCs exposed to formaldehyde and to initially explore the potential mechanism. Methods: BM-MSCs were cultured in vitro and divided into control group, formaldehyde group, and APS at 40, 100, and 400 μg/mL groups. Proliferation activity was measured by MTT assay, DNA strand breakage was detected by comet assay, DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) was detected by KCl-SDS precipitation assay, and the mRNA and protein expression of XPA, XPC, ERCC1, RPA1 and RPA2 were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blotting. Results: Compared with model group, formaldehyde-contaminated BM-MSCs were treated with APS at 40, 100, and 400 μg/mL, the cell proliferation activity was increased significantly (P < 0.01), DNA strand breakage and DPCs level were decreased significantly (P < 0.01), and the mRNA and protein expression of XPA, XPC, ERCC1, RPA1, and RPA2 were up-regulated significantly (P < 0.05, 0.01). Among them, the effect of 100 μg/mL APS group was the most obvious. Conclusion: APS can protect formaldehyde-induced BM-MSCs DNA damage, especially 100 μg/mL APS has the most obvious effect. The mechanism may be associated with the up-regulation of XPA, XPC, ERCC1, RPA1, and RPA2, which promoted the repair of DNA damage.