Ligustri fructus abrogates AA+iron-mediated oxidative damage in HepG2 cells = Ligustri fructus abrogates AA+iron-mediated oxidative damage in HepG2 cells

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Background : Ligustri fructus (LF) is one of the traditional medicinal herbs. The efficacy of LF is known to protect liver and kidney, to strengthen the waist and knees, and to be anti-bacterial, anti-cancer and anti-microbial. The purpose of this study is to examine the liver protective effect of Ligustri fructus extract (LFE) in HepG2 cell (human hepatoma cell line) treated with arachidonic acid (AA) and iron (Fe). Methods : To examine the anti-oxidant effect of LFE, the HepG2 cells were pretreated with LFE 0.1 mg/ml for 1 h, followed by incubation with AA for 12 h, and then treated with Fe for 1.5 h. After treatment, cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Cellular glutathione (GSH) contents was measured by colorimetric analysis. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were measured by flow cytometer. And the protein levels of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP), B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xL), procaspase 3, and phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (P-GSK3β) were determined by immunoblottings. Results : The treatment of LFE had no cytotoxicity and protected HepG2 cells from AA+iron-induced cell death and mitochondrial dysfunction in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, AA+iron-induced production of ROS and reduction of cellular GSH content were remarkably attenuated by the pre-treatment of JFE. At the molecular level, LFE restored AA+iron-mediated decreases in PARP, Bcl-xL and procasepase-3 expression. Moreover, LFE abrogated AA+iron-mediated activation of GSK3β. Discussion : These results demonstrate that LFE has the capability to protect the liver cell damage caused by accumulation of Fe and to restore MMP.