Abstract:Aim To study the effects of Echinocystic acid on the protein expression of apoptosis-associated Bcl-2,Bax and PARP (89 kDa) in the primary cultured rat cardiomyocytes subjected to anoxia/reoxygenation injury. Methods The cardiomyocytes were divided into normal group,anoxia/reoxygenation injury group,anoxia/reoxygenation preconditioning group,different concentration Echinocystic acid groups (0.5 μmol/L,5 μmol/L and 50 μmol/L). Cardiomyocytes were subjected to anoxia for 3 hours and subsequently reoxygenation for 2 hours. Cell viability and LDH activity in medium were measured. The expression o f Bcl-2 and the apoptotic protein Bax and PARP (89 kDa) were detected by Western Blot. Results Compared with that of the control group,the expression of Bcl-2 protein in cardiomyocytes decreased significantly (P<0.01) and the expression of Bax protein and PARP (89 kDa) in cardiomyocytes increased significantly (P<0.01) after reoxygenation. Cell viability decreased obviously (P<0.05). Compared with that of the anoxia/reoxygenation group,pretreatment with different concentration Echinocystic acid decreased LDH activity and increased cell viability(P<0.05),the expression of Bcl-2 protein in the Echinocystic acid (5 μmol/L) groups increased significantly (P<0.05) and the expression of Bax protein decreased significantly (P<0.05). Conclusion The antiapopotic effects of Echinocystic acid might be attributed to the up-regulated expression of Bcl-2 gene and the inhibited expression of Bax and PARP(89 kDa) gene expression.