Astragalus polysaccharide protects formaldehyde-induced toxicity by promoting NER pathway in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Introduction. In our previous study, it has been confirmed that formaldehyde (FA) not only inhibits the proliferative activity, but also causes DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) formation in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). The purpose of this study was to detect protective effect astragalus polysaccharide (APS) against cytotoxicity and genotoxicity BMSCs exposed FA, explore potential molecular mechanisms APS activity. Material methods. Human were cultured vitro randomly divided into control (Ctrl group), FA-treated (FA group, 120 μmol/L), incubated with FA increasing concentrations (40, 100, or 400 μg/mL) + groups). Cytotoxicity measured by MTT assay. DNA strand breakage, (DPCs), micronucleus respectively detected comet assay, KCl-SDS precipitation mRNA protein expression level xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XPA), C (XPC), excision repair cross-complementation 1 (ERCC1), replication A1 (RPA1), A2 (RPA2) all qRT-PCR Western Blot. Results. Compared cytotoxicity, DPCs, levels decreased significantly groups (P < 0.01). Meanwhile, XPA, XPC, ERCC1, RPA1, RPA2 up regulated 0.05) most prominent 100 μg/mL APS. Conclusions. Our results suggest can protect human induced FA. mechanism may be associated up-regulated nucleotide (NER) pathway which promotes damage repair.