The Effect Of Puerarin On Protection Of Cardiac Muscle Cell

The major actions of puerarin are protection of artery vessels endotheliocyte, inhibition of atherosclerosis and thrombosis, improvement of blood circulation, decrease of myocardial oxygen consumption, inhibition of arrhythmia, lowering of blood pressure, protection of myocardial-ultrastucture and reduce the area of myocardial infaction. Therefore puerarin is very commonly used for protection against cardiovascular disease.The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of puerarin on the production of nitric oxide in the rat cardiac muscle cell line H₉C₂. Puerarin increased the release of NO by H₉C₂ in a dose and time dependent manner in this experiment. It revealed that 2mg/ml puerarin can elevate the level of endothelial NOS protein and mRNA after 24h treatment. Clarification of the effect of puerarin on H₉C₂ cells involved in hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis is the most important objective in our study. Results from the present study demonstrated that puerarin was effective in the treatment of H₉C₂ against H₂O₂. The mechanisms behind could be the promotion of Bcl-2 expression, reduction of Bax expression, as well as decreasing the release of cytochrome c that reduced the activity of caspase-3. These may provide a new insight into the mechanism of cardiac protection by puerarin.