| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2568475 | Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology | 2014 | 14 Pages |
•Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DHCA) induced the expression of heme oxygenase (HO)-1.•The AMPK–Nrf2 pathway is critically involved in the DHCA-mediated induction of HO-1.•DHCA increased the expression of HO-1, Gclc and Gclm in primary macrophages.•DHCA-mediated induction of HO-1 contributed to the suppression of NO production.
Oxidative stress is induced by the accumulation of free radicals, resulting in an imbalanced cellular redox state, which has been implicated in a variety of human diseases. Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DHCA), a lignan compound isolated from Cucurbita moschata, has previously been reported to contain anti-adipogenic and anti-lipogenic effects on 3T3-L1 cells and primary MEFs ( Abraham and Kappas, 2008). In this study, it was tested whether DHCA could affect the expression of HO-1, using Raw264.7 mouse macrophage cell line. DHCA increased the protein and RNA levels of HO-1 and upregulated its promoter activity. Data from transient transfection assays indicated that ARE located in the E1 region of the HO-1 promoter are important in this DHCA-mediated induction of HO-1 expression. DHCA was also shown to enhance the nuclear translocation and binding of Nrf2 to the respective DNA sequences. The upregulation of HO-1 expression by DHCA was also observed in primary macrophages derived from wild type animals, but not in those from Nrf2 KO mice. Effects of DHCA on HO-1 and Nrf2 were reduced when cells were treated with an AMPK inhibitor, Compound C, but not by PI3K/Akt or MAPK inhibitors. Data from an experiment using a specific siRNA or chemical inhibitor for HO-1 suggested that the DHCA-mediated induction of the HO-1 protein could suppress the LPS-stimulated production of NO. Taken together, our data suggest that DHCA induces the expression of HO-1 by controlling its promoter activity through the AMPK–Nrf2 pathway, eventually leading to the reduction of NO production, and may thus have potential as an effective antioxidant.
