Cardioprotective effect of breviscapine: inhibition of apoptosis in H9c2 cardiomyocytes via the PI3K/Akt/eNOS pathway following simulated ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Breviscapine (BE) is a standardized Chinese herbal medicine extracted from Erigeron breviscapus (Vant.) Hand.-Mazz. It has been widely used to treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. However, there are no reports on the protective effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of BE action on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R)-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. In the present study, we aimed to confirm the cardioprotective effect of BE from MI/R injury in vivo, and investigate the potential molecular mechanisms against simulated ischemia/reperfusion (SI/R)-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in vitro. The rat model of MI/R injury was induced by 30 min of transient vessel occlusion followed by 3 h of reperfusion. BE significantly reduced the myocardium infarct size and production of cardiac troponin (cTnl) in serum. In an in vitro experiment, H9c2 cardiomyocytes were incubated with vehicle or ischemic buffer during hypoxia; then, they were reoxygenated with or without BE. BE markedly improved the cell viability and decreased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. We confirmed the anti-apoptotic effect of BE with the Hoechst 33258 staining assay, and this effect was associated with an increase in Bcl-2 and a decrease in active caspase-3 expression. Western blot analysis also showed that BE increased the phosphorylation of Akt and eNOS in H9c2 cells, and the protective effects of BE were partially inhibited by the phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K) specific inhibitor LY294002. Our results suggested that BE could provide significant cardioprotection against MI/R injury, and the potential mechanisms might involve suppression of cardiomyocyte apoptosis through activating the PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling pathway.