Baicalein attenuates oxidant stress in cardiomyocytes

• Published in: American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology 2002-03, Vol.282 (3), p.H999-H1006
• Main Authors: Shao, Zuo-Hui, Vanden Hoek, Terry L, Qin, Yimin, Becker, Lance B, Schumacker, Paul T, Li, Chang-Qing, Dey, Lucy, Barth, Eugene, Halpern, Howard, Rosen, Gerald M, Yuan, Chun-Su
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Asteraceae; Cell Hypoxia - drug effects; Cell Hypoxia - physiology; Cells, Cultured; Chick Embryo; Flavanones; Flavonoids - pharmacology; Heart - drug effects; Heart - embryology; Heart - physiology; Microscopy, Video; Mitochondria, Heart - drug effects; Mitochondria, Heart - physiology; Myocardial Ischemia - physiopathology; Myocardial Reperfusion; Myocardium - cytology; Oxidants - toxicity; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Perfusion; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism
• ISSN: 0363-6135; 1522-1539
• DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00163.2001

1  Section of Emergency Medicine and 2  Pulmonary Critical Care, Department of Medicine, 3  Emergency Resuscitation Center, 4  Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care and 5  Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research, 6  Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, and 7  Center for Low Frequency EPR Imaging for In Vivo Physiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637; and 8  Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and Medical Biotechnology Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland 21210 Flavonoids within Scutellaria baicalensis may be potent antioxidants on the basis of our studies of S. baicalensis extract. To further this work, we studied the antioxidative effects of baicalein, a flavonoid component of S. baicalensis , in a chick cardiomyocyte model of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation during hypoxia, simulated ischemia-reperfusion, or mitochondrial complex III inhibition with antimycin A. Oxidant stress was measured by oxidation of the intracellular probes 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate and dihydroethidium. Viability was assessed by propidium iodide uptake. Baicalein attenuated oxidant stress during all conditions studied and acted within minutes of treatment. For example, baicalein given only at reperfusion dose dependently attenuated the ROS burst at 5 min after 1 h of simulated ischemia. It also decreased subsequent cell death at 3 h of reperfusion from 52.3 ± 2.5% in untreated cells to 29.4 ± 3.0% (with return of contractions; P