solution and its active compounds ameliorate human granulosa cell damage induced by HO.

The dried roots or rhizomes of are commonly used in Chinese medicine to promote blood circulation and regulate menstruation. Salvianic acid A and salvianolic acid B are the main active water-soluble compounds in solution. The present study investigated the protective effect of solution and its active compounds in HO-induced cell damage of the human ovarian granulosa tumor cell line (KGN) , as well as its underlying mechanism. Cell viability was detected using a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. In addition, the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured. Western blotting was performed to detect the protein expression of cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-9. Furthermore, immunocytochemistry was used to detect the expression of TNF-α. It was demonstrated that solution, salvianic acid A and salvianolic acid B did not affect the viability of KGN cells. Additionally, salvianic acid A and salvianolic acid B significantly reduced the HO-induced increased MDA levels, and reversed the HO-induced suppression of SOD and GSH activities in KGN cells (P<0.05). Treatment with solution, salvianic acid A and salvianolic acid B significantly reduced the overexpression of cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9 and TNF-α compared with the HO-treated group (P<0.05). Therefore, the present results indicated that solution and its main water-soluble compounds, salvianic acid A and salvianolic acid B, ameliorated KGN cell damage induced by HO.