FRUCTUS CORNI ENHANCES ENDOTHELIAL-CELL ANTIOXIDANT DEFENSES

1. The present study determined the effects of Fructus corni extract ( FCE) on the levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide anion (O -2(-)), on the glutathione (GSH) redox cycle and on the activities of antioxidant enzymes in bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAEC s). 2. Confluent monolayers of PAECs were incubated with FCE, and oxid ative stress was triggered by hypoxanthine and xanthine oxidase (to in duce H2O2) or H2O2 (to induce O-2(-)). 3. FCE exhibited a concentratio n-dependent suppression of H2O2 and O-2(-). 4. It modulated the GSH re dox cycle by increasing the intracellular GSH content, the activities of GSH peroxidase and GSH disulfide reductase, and by decreasing the i ntracellular level of GSH disulfide. 5. It also increased the activiti es of superoxide dismutase and catalase. 6. These results demonstrate that FCE can promote a protective antioxidant defense state by affecti ng some important enzymatic and nonenzymatic oxidant-scavenging system s and may thus be useful for the prevention or treatment of disorders associated with oxidative damage. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.