Saponin-rich fraction from Clematis chinensis Osbeck roots protects rabbit chondrocytes against nitric oxide-induced apoptosis via preventing mitochondria impairment and caspase-3 activation

Abstract

Our previous study reported that the saponin-rich fraction from Clematis chinensis Osbeck roots (SFC) could effectively alleviate experimental osteoarthritis induced by monosodium iodoacetate in rats through protecting articular cartilage and inhibiting local inflammation. The present study was performed to investigate the preventive effects of SFC on articular chondrocyte, and explore the underlying mechanisms. Primary rabbit chondrocytes were cultured and exposed to sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a NO donor. After treatment with different concentrations of SFC (30, 100, 300, 1,000 lg/ml) for 24 h, nucleic morphology, apoptotic rate, mitochondrial function and caspase-3 activity of chondrocytes were examined. The results showed that SNP induced remarkable apoptosis of rabbit chondrocytes evidenced by Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry analysis, and SFC prevented the apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Further studies indicated that SFC could prevent the depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential (Dwm) in SNPtreated chondrocytes and suppress the activation of caspase-3. It can be concluded that the protection of SFC on articular chondrocytes is associated with the anti-apoptosis effects via inhibiting the mitochondrion impairment and caspase-3 activation.

Protective Role of Deoxyschizandrin and Schisantherin A against Myocardial Ischemia–Reperfusion Injury in Rats

“…The absorbance was then measured at 405 nm with a microplate reader. The activity of caspase-3 in tissue samples was calculated as optical density per mg protein (OD/mg) [22].…”

Clematichinenoside AR induces immunosuppression involving Treg cells in Peyer׳s patches of rats with adjuvant induced arthritis

“…According to the traditional Chinese medicinal view, the nature and flavor of Radix Clematidis are pungent, salty and warm, and channel tropism shows that Radix Clematidis acts on the urinary bladder meridian (State Pharmacopoeia Committee of People's Republic of China, 2010). Accumulative evidence has demonstrated that saponins extracted from Clematidis Radix possess anti-inflamatory (Fu et al, 2010;Shi et al, 2006) and chondroprotective (Hsieh et al, 2011;Wu et al, 2013Wu et al, , 2010 properties, and clematichinenoside AR (AR) has been isolated and identified as the major active component of triterpenoid saponins Ma et al,2009;Zhou et al, 2012).…”

Chemical and biological research of Clematis medicinal resources

“…SFC protects rabbit chondrocytes against NO-induced apoptosis via preventing mitochondrial impairment and caspase-3 activation (Wu et al, 2013). SFC protects rabbit chondrocytes against NO-induced apoptosis via preventing mitochondrial impairment and caspase-3 activation (Wu et al, 2013).…”