Protective effects of Astragalus on hydrogen peroxide-induced injury of cardiomyocytes

AIM: To investigate the protective effects of Astragalus (AS) on cardiomyocytes against hydrogen peroxide (H 2O 2) induced injury. METHODS: Cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes were divided into three groups: ① Normal group; ② H 2O 2 group, in which cells were treated with H 2O 2(0.2 mmol/L) for 1 h; ③ AS+ H 2O 2 group, in which cells were pretreated with AS(with final concentration of 200 mg/mL)30 min before H 2O 2 treatment. Colorimetric assay was used to detect the mitochondrion activity, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malonaldehyde (MDA) content. RESULTS: After treatment with H 2O 2, the mitochondrion activity was significantly reduced to 0.36±0.04 compared with that of normal group while the LDH activity was (27.4±3.2)μkat/L, significantly higher than that of normal group. SA pretreatment markedly increased the mitochondrion activity to 0.50± 0.05 and reduced LDH activity to (16.4±1.8)μkat/L. Cells treated with H 2O 2 had a lower SOD activity of (231± 22) μkat/L and a higher MDA content of(16.1±3.0)μmol/L compared with those of normal cells. Cells of SA+H 2O 2 group had a higher SOD activity of (331±40)μkat/L and a lower MDA content of (10.7±2.4)μmol/L compared with those of H 2O 2 group. CONCLUSION: SA can protect cardiomyocytes from H 2O 2 injury by improving cell antioxidant ability.