Protective Effect of Radix Rhapontici Water Extract on Tert-Butyl Hydroperoxide-Induced Damage of Vascular Endothelial Cells / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the protective effect of Radix Rhapontici water extract (RRWE) on the damage of vascular endothelial cells induced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) in vitro. METHODS: The cellular model was established by treating human umbilical vein endothelial cells with TBHP, and randomly assigned to 4 groupsthe control, TBHP, low and high-dose RRWE groups. Cell viability was tested by MTT assay, the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured by colorimetric method, the reactive oxygen species (ROS), apoptosis, and mitochondrial membrane potentials were observed by fluorescent staining, and the protein expressions of NF-κB, JNK, Bax, Bcl-2 and caspase-3 were determined with Western blotting method. RESULTS: Pretreatment with RRWE significantly increased the cell viabilities, reduced ROS levels, decreased MDA formation, increased the GSH contents and SOD activities, elevated the mitochondrial membrane potentials, down-regulated the p-JNK and p-NF-κB levels, reduced Bax/Bcl-2 ratios, suppressed caspase-3 activation, and inhibited cell apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells. CONCLUSION: RRWE has a protective effect on the damage of vascular endothelial cells induced by TBHP in vitro, and suppresses the cell apoptosis maybe through inhibiting JNK and NF-κB activation.