Abstract
Medicinal herbal plants have been commonly used for intervention in different diseases and improvement of health worldwide. Koumine, an alkaloid monomer found abundantly in Gelsemium plants, can be effectively used as an antioxidant. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential protective effect of koumine against hydrogen peroxide (H&sub2;O&sub2;)-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in porcine intestinal epithelial cell line (IPEC-J2 cells). MTT assays showed that koumine significantly increased cell viability in H&sub2;O&sub2;-mediated IPEC-J2 cells. Preincubation with koumine ameliorated H&sub2;O&sub2;-medicated apoptosis by decreasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and efficiently suppressed the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and malondialdehyde (MDA) production. Moreover, a loss of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH) activities was restored to normal level in H&sub2;O&sub2;-induced IPEC-J2 cells upon koumine exposure. Furthermore, pretreatment with koumine suppressed H&sub2;O&sub2;-mediated loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation, decrease of Bcl-2 expression and elevation of Bax expressions. Collectively, the results of this study indicated that koumine possesses the cytoprotective effects in IPEC-J2 cells during exposure to H&sub2;O&sub2; by suppressing production of ROS, inhibiting the caspase-3 activity and influencing the expression of Bax and Bcl-2. Koumine could potentially serve as a protective effect against H&sub2;O&sub2;-induced apoptosis.