HESA-A Exerts Its Cytoprotective Effects through Scavenging of Free Radicals: An in Vitro Study

BACKGROUND Natural medicines have been recently considered more reasonable for human use most notably due to their safety and tolerance. HESA-A is a marine-originated herbal medicine with a variety of healing effects. However, its exact biological mechanism is not clear. The present study aimed at the evaluation of the HESA-A antioxidant effect. METHODS Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and human embryonic kidney (HEK293T) cells were treated with different concentrations of HESA-A and H(2)O(2) followed by cell proliferation assays. The antioxidant effect of the HESA-A preparations was evaluated by an antioxidant assay kit. RESULTS The viability of CHO and HEK293T cells were about 89% following their incubation with 100 and 200 ng/ml HESA-A, respectively for 1.5 hrs. However, when the cells were incubated with concentrations of 300 ng/ml or more, the cell viability significantly decreased to 48% compare to the control cells. The cytotoxic effects of H(2)O(2) were observed after 2 hrs of incubation of the HEK293T or CHO cells with 10 mM or 16 mM H(2)O(2), respectively, while in the presence of HESA-A the cytotoxicity was significantly decreased. Antioxidant assay revealed that HESA-A scavenges free radicals. CONCLUSION The findings indicate that HESA-A had cytoprotective effects in vitro, and that such an effect might be due to antioxidant properties.