Morroniside Protects Human Granulosa Cells against H2O2-Induced Oxidative Damage by Regulating the Nrf2 and MAPK Signaling Pathways

Yucong Ma; Guimin Hao; Xiaohua Lin; Zhiming Zhao; Aimin Yang; Yucong Cao; Shuancheng Zhang; Lijie Fan; Jingran Geng; Yu Zhang; Jingwei Chen; Cuimiao Song; Ming He; Huilan Du

doi:10.1155/2022/8099724

Morroniside Protects Human Granulosa Cells against H₂O₂-Induced Oxidative Damage by Regulating the Nrf2 and MAPK Signaling Pathways

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022 Sep 9:2022:8099724. doi: 10.1155/2022/8099724. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yucong Ma¹, Guimin Hao², Xiaohua Lin³, Zhiming Zhao², Aimin Yang², Yucong Cao¹, Shuancheng Zhang¹, Lijie Fan¹, Jingran Geng¹, Yu Zhang¹, Jingwei Chen¹, Cuimiao Song⁴, Ming He¹, Huilan Du¹

Affiliations

¹ Hebei Key Laboratory of Integrative Medicine on Liver-Kidney Patterns, Institute of Integrative Medicine, College of Integrative Medicine, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050091, China.
² Department of Reproductive Medicine, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050000, China.
³ Hebei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050011, China.
⁴ Department of Physiology, Basic Medical College, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang 050091, China.

Abstract

Morroniside is the main ingredient of Cornus officinalis and has a variety of biological activities including antioxidative effects. Ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) are responsible for regulating the development and atresia of follicles, which are susceptible to oxidative stress. In this study, we determined whether morroniside can inhibit the oxidative stress of GCs induced by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), leading to improved oocyte quality. The oxidative damage and apoptosis of ovarian GCs cultured in vitro were induced by the addition of H₂O₂. After pretreatment with morroniside, the levels of ROS, MDA, and 8-OHdG in ovarian GCs were significantly decreased. Morroniside significantly upregulated p-Nrf2 and promoted the nuclear translocation of Nrf2, which transcriptionally activated antioxidant SOD and NQO1. In addition, morroniside significantly regulated the levels of apoptosis-related proteins Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-9, and cleaved caspase-3 via the p38 and JNK pathways. These results suggest that morroniside can reduce the oxidative damage and apoptosis of ovarian GCs induced by H₂O₂.