Abstract
Vascular endothelial dysfunction is associated with increased mortality in patients with diabetes. Astragaloside IV (As-IV) is a bioactive saponin with therapeutic potential as an anti-inflammatory and antiendothelial dysfunction. However, the underlying mechanism for how As-IV ameliorated endothelial dysfunction is still unclear. Therefore, in this study, we examined the protective effect of As-IV against endothelial dysfunction and explored potential molecular biology mechanism. In vivo, rats were intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin (STZ) at a dose of 65 mg/kg body weight to establish a diabetic model. In vitro studies, rat aortic endothelial cells (RAOEC) were pretreated with As-IV, SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor) for 2 h prior to the addition of high glucose (33 mM glucose). Our findings indicated that As-IV improved impaired endothelium-dependent relaxation and increased the levels of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and nitric oxide (NO) both in vivo and in vitro. Besides, As-IV treatment inhibited the elevated inflammation and oxidative stress in diabetic model both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, As-IV administration reversed the upregulated expression of P2X7R and p-p38 MAPK in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, the effects of both P2X7R siRNA and SB203580 on endothelial cells were similar to As-IV. Collectively, our study demonstrated that As-IV rescued endothelial dysfunction induced by high glucose via inhibition of P2X7R dependent p38 MAPK signaling pathway. This provides a theoretical basis for the further study of the vascular endothelial protective effects of As-IV.