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Apigenin alleviates STZ-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy

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Abstract

Apigenin is an important component of fruits and vegetables in human daily diets. Several cellular and animal models have been performed to demonstrate its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory bioactivities. However, the cardioprotective effects of apigenin in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) remain unclear. In this study, we intended to explore the roles of apigenin in cardiac remodeling of DCM. Male C57BL/6 J mice were treated with streptozotocin (STZ, 50 mg/kg) for 5 consecutive days to induce DCM. The echocardiography and catheter-based measurements of hemodynamic parameters were performed to evaluate the cardiac function. Paraffin slices of harvested hearts were prepared for histological pathological analysis and TUNEL assay. Oxidative assay kits were used to detect Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx), Lipid Peroxidation Malondialdehyde (MDA), and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD). Western blot and real-time PCR were used for accessing the expressions of protein and mRNA. Diabetes mellitus exacerbated the cardiac dysfunction, fibrosis, and overaccumulation of 4-hydroxynonenal accompanying with down-regulation of Bcl2, GPx, and SOD, up-regulation of MDA, cleaved caspase3, and pro-apoptotic protein Bax, and contribution to the translocation of NF-κB. All these pathological changes could be effectively blunted by treatment of apigenin in vivo. Finally, H9c2 treated with high glucose or apigenin was used for further investigation of these effects in vitro; what is more, we also compared the effects between apigenin and Resveratrol in in vitro experiments. Our experiments have demonstrated that apigenin may be a potential drug for diabetic patients suffering from DCM.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81270303, 81470516,81470402), Hubei Province’s Outstanding Medical Academic Leader program, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (No. 2015301020202).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Jiefang Road 238, Wuhan, 430060, China

      Huang-Jun Liu, Yun-Lin Fan, Hai-Han Liao, Zhen-Guo Ma, Ning Zhang, Zheng Yang, Wei Deng & Qi-Zhu Tang

    2. Cardiovascular Research Institute of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

      Huang-Jun Liu, Hai-Han Liao, Zhen-Guo Ma, Ning Zhang, Zheng Yang, Wei Deng & Qi-Zhu Tang

    3. Hubei Key Laboratory of Cardiology, Wuhan, China

      Huang-Jun Liu, Hai-Han Liao, Zhen-Guo Ma, Ning Zhang, Zheng Yang, Wei Deng & Qi-Zhu Tang

    4. Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

      Yuan Liu

    5. College of Pharmacy, Hubei University of Science and Technology, Xianning, China

      Si Chen

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    1. Huang-Jun Liu
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    Correspondence to Qi-Zhu Tang.

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    Huang-Jun Liu and Yun-Lin Fan contributed equally to this work.

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    Liu, HJ., Fan, YL., Liao, HH. et al. Apigenin alleviates STZ-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy. Mol Cell Biochem 428, 9–21 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-016-2913-9

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