The preventive effect of on oxidative stress-induced cellular damage in skeletal L6 myoblasts through Nrf2-mediated activation of HO-1.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the preventive effect of water extract of (MRWE) on oxidative stress-mediated cellular damages in rat skeletal L6 myoblasts. Our results demonstrated that MRWE pretreatment markedly improved cell survival and suppressed cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and apoptosis in hydrogen peroxide (HO)-treated L6 cells. HO-triggered DNA damage was also notably reduced by MRWE, which since it was correlated with protection of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Additionally, HO stimulated cytosolic release of cytochrome and up-regulation of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, whereas MRWE suppressed these changes following by HO. Moreover, MRWE inhibited the cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase as well as the activity of caspase-3 by HO. Furthermore, MRWE enhanced HO-mediated expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-associated factor 2 (Nrf2) and its representative downstream enzyme, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). However, the protective effects of MRWE on HO-induced ROS production, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were significantly attenuated by HO-1 inhibitor. In conclusion, our present results suggests that MRWE could protect L6 myoblasts from HO-induced cellular injury by inhibiting ROS generation along with Nrf2-mediated activation of HO-1, indicating this finding may expand the scope of application of in medicine.