Salvianic acid A sodium protects HUVEC cells against tert-butyl hydroperoxide induced oxidative injury via mitochondria-dependent pathway.

Salvianic acid A (Danshensu) is a major water-soluble component extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen), which has been widely used in clinic in China for treatment of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This study aimed to investigate the protective effects of salvianic acid A sodium (SAAS) against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) oxidative injury and the underlying molecular mechanisms. In the antioxidant activity-assessing model, SAAS pretreatment significantly ameliorated the cell growth inhibition and apoptosis induced by t-BHP. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) based-metabolic profiling was developed to investigate the metabolic changes of HUVEC cells in response to t-BHP and SAAS. The results revealed that t-BHP injury upregulated 13 metabolites mainly involved in tryptophan metabolism and phenylalanine metabolism which were highly correlated with mitochondrial function and oxidative stress, and 50 μM SAAS pretreatment effectively reversed these metabolic changes. Further biomedical research indicated that SAAS pretreatment reduced the t-BHP induced increase of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and the decrease of key antioxidant enzymes through mitochondria antioxidative pathways via JAK2/STAT3 and PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β signalings. Taken together, our results suggested that SAAS may protect HUVEC cells against t-BHP induced oxidative injury via mitochondrial antioxidative defense system.