Fructus corni enhances endothelial cell antioxidant defenses.

1. The present study determined the effects of Fructus corni extract (FCE) on the levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide anion (O2-), on the glutathione (GSH) redox cycle and on the activities of antioxidant enzymes in bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs). 2. Confluent monolayers of PAECs were incubated with FCE, and oxidative stress was triggered by hypoxanthine and xanthine oxidase (to induce H2O2) or H2O2 (to induce O2-). 3. FCE exhibited a concentration-dependent suppression of H2O2 and O2-. 4. It modulated the GSH redox cycle by increasing the intracellular GSH content, the activities of GSH peroxidase and GSH disulfide reductase, and by decreasing the intracellular level of GSH disulfide. 5. It also increased the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase. 6. These results demonstrate that FCE can promote a protective antioxidant defense state by affecting some important enzymatic and nonenzymatic oxidant-scavenging systems and may thus be useful for the prevention or treatment of disorders associated with oxidative damage.