Corni fructus scavenges hydroxy radicals and decreases oxidative stress in endothelial cells

초록

Corm fructus has been used as a tonic, analgesic, and diuretic in Korean herbal medicine. The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the antioxidative effect of corni fructus and its capacity to protect cells against oxidative damage. The radical scavenging activity of corm fructus extracts was measured using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and the antioxidant activity was determined by measuring the peroxide value in a linoleic acid emulsion system. In addition, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with corm fructus extracts and incubated with H2O2 to investigate protection against apoptosis induction. Both ethanol and water extracts of corm fructus produced higher DPPH radical scavenging activity than hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate extracts. Strong antioxidative activities of both water and ethanol extracts were observed in an emulsion system containing linoleic acid and phosphate buffer. The incubation of HUVECs with the addition of ethanol extract significantly decreased H2O2-initiated damage of endothelial cells, but the water extract did not. The pretreatment with ethanol extract, but not with water extract, significantly decreased apoptotic damage of the H2O2-treated HUVECs and kept the morphological normality. This study demonstrates that corm fructus is a potent antioxidant substance, and suggests that further investigation is needed to characterize the difference between extract types and to identify its antioxidant compounds.

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