Ginsenoside Rg-1 protects retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells from cobalt chloride (CoCl2) and hypoxia assaults

• Published in: PloS one 2013-12, Vol.8 (12), p.e84171
• Main Authors: Li, Ke-Ran, Zhang, Zhi-Qing, Yao, Jin, Zhao, Yu-Xia, Duan, Jing, Cao, Cong, Jiang, Qin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetylcysteine; Activation; Alzheimer's disease; Alzheimers disease; AMP; AMP-activated protein kinase; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Biology; Capillaries; Cell activation; Cell cycle; Cell death; Cell Hypoxia - drug effects; Cell Line; Cell survival; Cell Survival - drug effects; Cobalt; Cobalt - toxicity; Cobalt chloride; Cytoprotection - drug effects; Cytotoxicity; Diabetic retinopathy; Enzyme Activation - drug effects; Epithelium; Eye diseases; Ginsenosides; Ginsenosides - pharmacology; Hospitals; Humans; Hypoxia; Inhibition; Ischemia; JNK protein; Kinases; Liver cancer; MAP kinase; Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1; Medicine; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Mortality; Multiprotein Complexes - metabolism; Neuroprotection; Neurosciences; Oxygen; Pharmaceuticals; Phosphorylation; Pretreatment; Proteins; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Retina; Retinal pigment epithelium; Retinal Pigment Epithelium - cytology; Retinal Pigment Epithelium - metabolism; TOR protein; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases - metabolism; Transcription factors
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084171

Severe retinal ischemia causes persistent visual impairments in eye diseases. Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells are located near the choroidal capillaries, and are easily affected by ischemic or hypoxia. Ginsenoside Rg-1 has shown significant neuroprotective effects. This study was performed to test the cytoprotective effect of ginsenoside Rg-1 in RPE cells against hypoxia and cobalt chloride (CoCl2) assaults, and to understand the underlying mechanisms. We found that Rg-1 pre-administration significantly inhibited CoCl2- and hypoxia-induced RPE cell death and apoptosis. Reactive oxygen specisis (ROS)-dependent p38 and c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinases (JNK) MAPK activation was required for CoCl2-induced RPE cell death, and Rg-1 pre-treatment significantly inhibited ROS production and following p38/JNK activation. Further, CoCl2 suppressed pro-survival mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) activation in RPE cells through activating of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), while Rg-1 restored mTORC1 activity through inhibiting AMPK activation. CoCl2-induced AMPK activation was also dependent on ROS production, and anti-oxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) prevented AMPK activation and RPE cell death by CoCl2. Our results indicated that Rg-1 could be further investigated as a novel cell-protective agent for retinal ischemia.