title: Oligomeric proanthocyanidin protects retinal ganglion cells against oxidative stress-induced apoptosis.
abstract: The death of retinal ganglion cells is a hallmark of many optic neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma and retinopathy. Oxidative stress is one of the major reasons to cause the cell death. Oligomeric proanthocyanidin has many health beneficial effects including antioxidative and neuroprotective actions. Here we tested whether oligomeric proanthocyanidin may protect retinal ganglion cells against oxidative stress induced-apoptosis in vitro. Retinal ganglion cells were treated with hydrogen peroxide with or without oligomeric proanthocyanidin. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay showed that treating retinal ganglion cell line RGC-5 cells with 20 μmol/L oligomeric proanthocyanidin significantly decreased the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced death. Results of flow cytometry and Hoechst staining demonstrated that the death of RGC-5 cells was mainly caused by cell apoptosis. We further found that expression of pro-apoptotic Bax and caspase-3 were significantly decreased while anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was greatly increased in H2O2 damaged RGC-5 cells with oligomeric proanthocyanidin by western blot assay. Furthermore, in retinal explant culture, the number of surviving retinal ganglion cells in H2O2-damaged retinal ganglion cells with oligomeric proanthocyanidin was significantly increased. Our studies thus demonstrate that oligomeric proanthocyanidin can protect oxidative stress-injured retinal ganglion cells by inhibiting apoptotic process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Jinan University School of Medicine, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China ; GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Jinan University School of Medicine, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China ; GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Chanjuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Jinan University School of Medicine, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China ; GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Jinan University School of Medicine, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Jinan University School of Medicine, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China ; GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Jinan University School of Medicine, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Renbing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Kwok-Fai
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: So
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Jinan University School of Medicine, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Daxiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: apoptosis; grants-supported paper; hydrogen peroxide; neural regeneration; neuroregeneration; oligomeric proanthocyanidin; oxidative stress; retinal explants; retinal ganglion cell; traditional Chinese medicine