Effect of genistein on apoptosis and proliferation of rat mesangial cells cultured in high glucose

    SUN Liª²Jing, YUAN Weiª²Jie, ZHANG Xiaoª²Ying£¬ MEI Xiaoª²Bin, GUO Zhiª²Yong, CHEN Guangª²Chun, ZHANG Jun

    1Department of Nephrology, 3Department of Laboratory Diagnosis,Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medicial University, 2Department of Pathophysiology, Second Military Medicial University, Shanghai 200433,China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To evaluate the effect of different concentrations of genistein on the proliferation and apoptosis of rat mesangial cells cultured in vitro in high glucose. METHODS: Mesangial cells were treated in different groups. Control group (low glucose 1 g/L without genistein) and experimental groups (high glucose 4.5 g/L with genistein 0, 1, 5, 10, 30 and 50 ¦Ìmol/L) were established and incubated for 12, 24, 36 and 48 h. The proliferation effect of genistein on cells was measured by MTT method. Agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA extracted from different groups, the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferaseª²mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique and flow cytometry using propidium iodide staining were performed to identify or quantify the apoptosis of cells. RESULTS: Quantitative analysis of apoptotic cells showed that the apoptotic rate of the mesangial cells treated with genistein for 24 h was significantly higher, in 10, 30 and 50 ¦Ìmol/L genistein groups than that in normal control group (P<0.05). No significant difference of the growth inhibition was found in 0, 1 and 5 ¦Ìmol/L genistein groups. The cell apoptotic rate increased in a positive manner of genistein concentration and culture duration. CONCLUSION: Genistein has an intrinsic capability of inhibiting the proliferation and inducing the apoptosis of mesangial cells in cultured high glucose and these effects are in a genistein concentration and time dependent manners. ......