Flavonoids with potent anti-oxidative effects are the major effective components in traditional herbal medicine used in treating cardiovascular diseases. Cynaroside is a flavonoid compound that exhibits anti-oxidative capabilities. However, little is known about its effect on oxidative injury to cardiac myocytes and the underlying mechanisms. This study was designed to investigate the protectiv...

BACKGROUND Cell senescence is central to a large body of age related pathology, and accordingly, cardiomyocytes senescence is involved in many age related cardiovascular diseases. In consideration of that, delaying cardiomyocytes senescence is of great importance to control clinical cardiovascular diseases. Previous study indicated that bradykinin (BK) protected endothelial cells from senescenc...

This study investigated whether KMUP-1, a xanthine-derivative K(+) channel opener, could prevent serotonin-induced hypertrophy in H9c2 cardiomyocytes via L-type Ca(2+) channels (LTCCs). Rat heart-derived H9c2 cells were incubated with serotonin (10 μM) for 4 days. The cell size increased by 155.5%, and this was reversed by KMUP-1 (≥1 μM), and attenuated by the LTCC blocker verapamil (1 μM) and ...

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), a newly identified gasotransmitter, can be endogenously produced by cystathionine gamma-lyase (CSE) in the cardiovascular system. This study investigated role of CSE/H2S system on lipid overload-induced lipotoxicity and cardiac senescence. Lipid overload rat cardiomyocyte cells (H9C2) promoted intracellular accumulation lipid, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction...

Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury induces irreversible oxidative stress damage to the cardiac muscle. We previously observed that CD38 deficiency remarkably protects mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) from oxidative stress-induced injury. However, whether CD38 deficiency protects from I/R injury in the heart is not explored. Here, we showed that the hearts of CD38 deficient mice or wild type mi...

β-adrenergic receptor stimulation plays an important role in cardiomyocyte stress responses, which may result in apoptosis and cardiovascular degeneration. We previously demonstrated that toxicity of the β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol on H9c2 cardiomyoblasts depends on the stage of cell differentiation. We now investigate βadrenergic receptor downstream signaling pathways and stress respons...

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+) ) not only transfers electrons in mitochondrial respiration, but also acts as an indispensable cosubstrate for Sirt1, the class III histone/nonhistone deacetylase. However, NAD(+) is depleted in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of exogenous NAD(+) supplementation in hypoxia/reoxygenatio...

Herba Cynomorii (Cynomorium songaricum Rupr., Cynomoriaceae) is one of the most commonly used 'Yang-invigorating' tonic herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). An earlier study in our laboratory has demonstrated that HCY2, an ursolic acid-enriched fraction derived from Herba Cynomorii, increased mitochondrial ATP generation capacity (ATP-GC) and induced mitochondrial uncoupling as well as ...

The protective effects and mechanisms of esculetin on doxorubicin (DOX)-induced injury of H9c2 cells were investigated. H9c2 cells were cultured and the logarithmic growth phase of the cells was divided into a control group, a DOX group and an esculetin + DOX group. Cell viability was detected by MTT assay. Annexin V-PI (AV-PI) double staining flow cytometry was carried out to detect cell apopt...

Resveratrol (RES) and curcumin (CUR) have free radical scavenging ability and potential chemosensitizing effects. Doxorubicin hydrochloride (DH) is a potent chemotherapeutic with severe cardiotoxicity. We hypothesize that RES and CUR co-loaded in Pluronic(®) micelles and co-administered with DH will result in cardioprotective effects while maintaining/improving DH anti-proliferative effect in v...