Rosmarinic acid inhibits chemical hypoxia-induced cytotoxicity in primary cultured rat hepatocytes

We examine the effect of rosmarinic acid (RA) in chemical hypoxia-induced injury in rat hepatocytes. Cell viability was significantly decreased by cobalt chloride (CoCl 2 ), a well-known hypoxia mimetic agent in a time- and dose- dependent manner. RA pretreatment before exposure to CoCl 2 significantly attenuated the CoCl 2 -induced decrease of cell viability. Additionally, pretreatment with RA potentiated the decrease of Bcl-2 expression and attenuated the increase of Caspase-3 expression by CoCl 2 . CoCl 2 treatment resulted in an increase of intracellular ROS generation, which is inhibited by RA or N -acetyl-cysteine (NAC, a ROS scavenger), and p38MAPK phosphorylation, which is also blocked by RA or NAC. CoCl 2 -induced increase of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and Caspase-3 expression was attenuated by RA, NAC and SB203580 (p38MAPK inhibitor). CoCl 2 -induced decrease of cell viability was also attenuated by RA, NAC and SB203580 pretreatment. Additionally, RA inhibited CoCl 2 -induced COX-2 expression and prostaglandin E2 (PGE 2 ) secretion. Similar to the effect of RA, both NAC and NS-398 (COX-2 inhibitor) blocked CoCl 2 -induced COX-2 expression and PGE 2 secretion. NS-398 attenuated not only CoCl 2 -induced increase of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and Caspase-3 expression, but decrease of cell viability. Taken together, RA protects primary cultured rat hepatocytes against CoCl 2 -induced cell injury through inhibition of ROS-activated p38MAPK and COX-2/PGE 2 pathway.