The role of radix hedysari polysaccharide on the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by high glucose

BackgroundDiabetes mellitus can cause a wide variety of vascular complications and it is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). High glucose can induce vascular endothelial cell apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the effect of radix hedysari polysaccharide (HPS) on the depression of apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by high glucose.MethodsHUVECs were treated with media containing 30 mM glucose in the presence or absence of vitamin C or HPS. The level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis of HUVECs was measured with flow cytometry. Expression of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) and caspase-3 were testified by real-time quantitative RT-PCR and immunofluorescence.ResultsHigh glucose was capable of eliciting the overexpression of JNK during the treatment procedure. Moreover, we found that the caspase-3 became overexpressed in apoptosis induced by high glucose; HPS could inhibit apoptosis under high glucose and suppress the generation of ROS and the overexpression of JNK and caspase-3. The effect of HPS on ROS quenching, inhibition of JNK and caspase-3 overexpression at the concentration of 100 μg/ml was similar to that of vitamin C at the concentration of 100 μM.ConclusionThe findings of the present study may suggest that HPS play a protection role on HUVECs against apoptosis induced by high glucose.