A polysaccharide isolated from Cynomorium songaricum Rupr. protects PC12 cells against H2O2-induced injury.

As a great deal of interest is developed to study novel bioactive components with health benefit effects from natural resources, in this paper, a rat pheochromocytoma line 12 (PC12) cell is built to observe the protective effect of a Cynomorium songaricum Rupr. polysaccharide (CSP) against H2O2-induced oxidative stress. Fluorescence microscope, flow cytometry and micro-plate reader are used to assess cell viability and apoptosis. And the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are evaluated. The results show that, the CSP can significantly protect PC12 cells against H2O2-induced oxidative stress, increase the intracellular antioxidase system load and inhibit H2O2-induced apoptosis by scavenging of ROS, regulating cell cycle, preventing DNA damage and protecting the cell membrane. This research would be benefit for preventing and curing the oxidation-related diseases in polysaccharide study.