Development of fluorescence imaging-based assay for screening cardioprotective compounds from medicinal plants

Medicinal plants have been widely recognized as a renewable resource for the discovery of novel leads and drug. In this study, an approach for screening and identification compounds with cardioprotective activity from medicinal plant extracts by cellular-fluorescence imaging technique was developed. It is a cell-based assay for measuring mitochondrial membrane potential changes in H9c2 cardiac muscle cells exposed to H2O2 by using a fluorescence automatic microscopy screening platform. Rhodamine 123 was used as the fluorescent dye to indicate the change of mitochondrial membrane potential. The sensitivity and linear range of the proposed approach were evaluated and validated using vitamin C, an antioxidative compound. The method was applied to screen active components with potent cardioprotective effects from a traditional Chinese formula. The potential cardioprotective components were identified by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Moreover, the utility of the proposed approach was further validated by three compounds (salvianolic acid B, protocatechuic aldehyde, and tanshinone II A) identified from the formula which showed cardioprotective effects in a dose-dependent manner. These applications suggested that the proposed rapid and sensitive screening approach offers an efficient way to discover active components or compounds from medicinal plants.

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• Based on cellular-fluorescence imaging technique combined with LC/MS, a rapid approach was constructed to discover active compounds from medicinal plants.
• Rhodamine 123 was used as the fluorescent dye to indicate the change of mitochondrial membrane potential.
• Good sensitivity and linear range in live cellular fluorescence imaging.
• Cardioprotective components from Qi-Shen-Yi-Qi formula were screened and identified.