Objective: To investigate the protective effect of puerarin on PC12 cells injury induced by hydrogen peroxide in culture.Methods:
The model that H2O2 induced injury in PC12 cells was generated.Morphological changes of PC12 cells were visualized under reversal phase microscope.Lactate dehydrogenase(LDH),malondialdelyde(MDA) and superoxide dismutase(SOD) in the culture medium and MDA,SOD in the cells were measured by spectroscopy respectively.Results: After exposed to 100 μmol/L H2O2 for 4 hours,typical morphological characteristics of cells injury were observed.Both LDH and MDA levels increased
significantly(P<0.001),while SOD level decreased significantly(P<0.001) in H2O2 induced group compared with those in the sham group.Puerarin could decrease LDH and MDA content and increase SOD level significantly.Conclusion: Puerarin has protective effect on PC12 cells injury induced by hydrogen peroxide in culture,which may be related to protecting cell membrane,increasing the activity of clearance enzyme of free radical and inhibiting lipid peroxidation.