Protective Effect of Prunella vulgaris L. var lilacina Nakai Extract on Cultured NIH3T3 Fibroblasts Damaged by Mutagenic Mercury-Induced Toxicity

Abstract

This study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity of mercury, mutagene and the protective effect of Prunella vulgaris L. var lilacina Nakai extract (PVE) on methylmercuric chloride (MMC)-induced cytotoxicity in the cultured NIH3T3 fibroblasts. For this study, cell viability was measured after NIH3T3 fibroblasts were treated with 15~35uM concentrations of MMC for 72hours, respectively, and also, both of superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity and inhibitory activity of lipid peroxidation (LP) were assessed. In this study, MMC decreased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner, and vitamin E significantly increased cell viability which decreased by MMC-induced cytotoxicity in these cultures. In the protective effect of PVE, PVE prevented MMC-induced cytotoxicity by a significant increase of cell viability as well as SOD-like activity and inhibitory activity of LP. From these results, it is suggested that the oxidative stress is involved in the cytotoxicity of MMC, and also PVE showed the protective effect on MMC-induced cytotoxicity via antioxidative effect such as SOD-like activity and inhibitory activity of LP. Conclusively, the natural component as PVE may be a putative resources for the detoxification of heavy metals associated with the oxidative stress. Keywords: Antioxidative effect, Lipid peroxidation, Methylmercuric chloride