36 kDa glycoprotein isolated from Rhus verniciflua Stokes fruit has a protective activity to glucose/glucose oxidase-induced apoptosis in NIH/3T3 cells.

The present study was carried out to investigate the antioxidative and antiapoptotic activities of 36 kDa RVS glycoprotein isolated from Rhus verniciflua Stokes fruits (RVS) in NIH/3T3 cells in vitro. The results showed that the RVS glycoprotein has scavenging activities of free radicals and hydroxyl radicals, and protects from glucose/glucose oxidase (G/GO)-induced cellular damage in NIH/3T3 cells dose-dependently. For example, cell viability was 43.5% in the G/GO treatment alone, whereas it was 93.8% in the co-treatment with RVS glycoprotein (200 microg/ml). We also demonstrated that RVS glycoprotein inhibits activities of the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) and activator protein-1 (AP-1) induced by G/GO, and prevents from G/GO-induced apoptosis in the NIH/3T3 cells. In this regard, the results in this study indicated that RVS glycoprotein has a strong antioxidative activity and an antiapoptotic effect through the modulation activities of NF-kappaB and AP-1in NIH/3T3 cells.