Effects Of Aquilaria Crassna Crude Extract On Simulated Ischemia Induced Cardiac Cell Death

Abstract

To  investigate  the  effect  of  ethylacetate  extract  of  Aquilaria  crassna  Pierre  ex  Lecomte  on  simulated  ischemia-induced  cardiac  cell  injury  and  its  mechanism  on  p38  MAPK  activation.  Rat  cardiac  myoblast  cell  line  (H9c2),  were  subjected  to  2  hours  simulated  ischemia (sI)  and  24  hours  of  reperfusion,  in  the  presence  and  absence  of  the  ethyl acetate  extract  of  Aquilaria  crassna (A.Q.).  The cellular injury and viability were determined. The result found that A.Q. at concentration 5 mg/ml was the most effective concentration to reduce cell death and injury.  Then, cells were pre-treated with or without 5  mg/ml  of  A.Q. for  1  hour  before,  or  at  the  beginning  of  40  minutes-sI.  Activation of p38 MAPK was measured by Western blot analysis.  Treatment of A.Q. significantly reduced ischemia-induced p38 MAPK phosphorylation (p <0.05).  In  conclusion,  treatment  of  5  mg/ml  of  the  ethylacetate  extract  of  A.  crassna  reduced  ischemia  induced  cell  death  by  attenuating  p38  MAPK  phosphorylation.