Protective effect of α-mangostin against CoCl2-induced apoptosis by suppressing oxidative stress in H9C2 rat cardiomyoblasts

Garcinia mangostana (a fruit) has been commonly used as a traditional drug in the treatment of various types of diseases. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential protective effect of alpha-mangostin (alpha-MG), a primary constituent extracted from the hull of the G. mangostana fruit (mangosteen), against CoCl2-induced apoptotic damage in H9C2 rat cardiomyoblasts. alpha-MG was demonstrated to significantly improve the viability of the CoCl2-treated cells by up to 79.6%, attenuating CoCl2-induced damage. Further studies revealed that alpha-MG exerted a positive effect in terms of decreased reactive oxygen species generation, malondialdehyde concentration, cellular apoptosis, and increased superoxide dismutase activity. Furthermore, treatment with CoCl2 increased the cleavage of caspase-9, caspase-3 and apoptosis regulator BAX, and reduced apoptosis regulator Bcl-2 in H9C2 cells, as measured by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, which were significantly reversed by co-treatment with alpha-MG (0.06 and 0.3 mM). In conclusion, these results demonstrated that alpha-MG protects H9C2 cells against CoCl2-induced hypoxic injury, indicating that alpha-MG is a potential therapeutic agent for cardiac hypoxic injury.