Vascular inflammatory process has been suggested to play a key role in the initiation and progression of
atherosclerosis, a major complication of
diabetes mellitus. Recent studies have shown that
brazilin exhibits antihepatotoxic, antiplatelet,
cancer preventive, or anti-inflammatory properties. Thus, we investigated whether
brazilin suppresses vascular inflammatory process induced by high
glucose (HG) in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). HG induced
nitrite production, lipid peroxidation, and intracellular
reactive oxygen species formation in HUVEC cells, which was reversed by
brazilin. Western blot analysis revealed that
brazilin markedly inhibited HG-induced phosphorylation of
endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Besides, we investigated the effects of
brazilin on the MAPK signal transduction pathway because MAPK families are associated with vascular
inflammation under stress.
Brazilin blocked HG-induced phosphorylation of
extracellular signal-regulated kinase and
transcription factor NF-κB. Furthermore,
brazilin concentration-dependently attenuated
cell adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) expression induced by various concentrations of HG in HUVEC. Taken together, the present data suggested that
brazilin could suppress high
glucose-induced vascular inflammatory process, which may be closely related with the inhibition of oxidative stress, CAMs expression, and NF-κB activation in HUVEC. Our findings may highlight a new therapeutic intervention for the prevention of
vascular diseases.