Inhibitory effects of formononetin on lipopolysaccharide-induced apoptosis and inflammatory response in alveolar epithelial cells / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To investigate the inhibitory effects of formononetin on lipopolysaccharide （LPS）-induced apoptosis and inflammatory response in alveolar epithelial cells through phosphoinositide 3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （Akt） signaling pathway. METHODS Human lung cancer alveolar basal epithelial cells A549 were cultured in vitro and divided into control group （no intervention）， model group （1 μg/mL LPS）， different concentrations of formononetin groups （1 μg/mL LPS+6.25， 12.5， 25， 50 μmol/L formononetin）. The levels of inflammatory factors （interleukin-8， tumor necrosis factor-α） and cell viability were detected in each group. Another A549 cells were divided into control group， model group （1 μg/mL LPS）， LPS+25 group （1 μg/mL LPS+25 μmol/L formononetin）， inhibitor group （1 μg/mL LPS+20 μmol/L LY294002）， formononetin+inhibitor group （1 μg/mL LPS+25 μmol/L formononetin+20 μmol/L LY294002） and formononetin+activator group （1 μg/mL LPS+25 μmol/L formononetin+ 10 μmol/L SC79）. The secretion levels and mRNA expressions of inflammatory factors， cell apoptosis， and expressions of the key proteins of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway were detected in each group. RESULTS Compared with model group， the levels of inflammatory factors were decreased significantly after the intervention of 25 μmol/L of formononetin， and the cell viability was increased significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with the control group， the secretion levels and mRNA expressions of inflammatory factors， apoptotic rate， and relative expressions of phosphorylated Akt and phosphorylated PI3K of the model group were increased significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with the model group， the above indexes of the LPS+25 group and the inhibitor group were decreased significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with the LPS+25 group， the above indicators of formononetin+inhibitor group were further decreased， while those of formononetin+activator group were increased significantly （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS Formononetin can inhibit LPS-induced epithelial cell apoptosis and improve inflammatory response， and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.