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Apigenin protects against ischemia-/hypoxia-induced myocardial injury by mediating pyroptosis and apoptosis

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Abstract

Apigenin is a traditional Chinese medicine found in many plants that plays critical roles in several diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. We investigated the protective effect of apigenin against ischemia/hypoxia (I/H)-induced myocardium injury in vitro and explored the potential molecular mechanisms. Together with the flow cytometry results, our results indicated that apigenin attenuated the pyroptosis and apoptosis of myoblastic H9c2 cells that were induced by I/H injury. Furthermore, the pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin 18, IL-18, and IL-1β) were investigated for the roles of apigenin in I/H-induced myocardium injury. It was observed that increases in IL-1β and IL-18 levels were significantly reduced by apigenin treatment of I/H-induced H9C2 cells. The results demonstrated that apigenin protected H9c2 cells against I/H-induced myocardium injury. The protective effects were most likely related to the reduction of pyroptosis, apoptosis, and pro-inflammatory cytokines.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Second Hospital of Army Medical University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Second Hospital of Army Medical University, Xinqiao Street, Shapingba District, Chongqing, 400037, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Li, Lin Chen & Yingbin Xiao

Authors
  1. Wei Li
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  2. Lin Chen
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  3. Yingbin Xiao
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Contributions

WL and YBX conceived and designed the experiments. WL and LC performed the experiments. WL analyzed the data. WL and YBX wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yingbin Xiao.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This study was performed following institutional and national guidelines.

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Editor: Tetsuji Okamoto

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Li, W., Chen, L. & Xiao, Y. Apigenin protects against ischemia-/hypoxia-induced myocardial injury by mediating pyroptosis and apoptosis. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 56, 307–312 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-020-00434-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-020-00434-9

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