Apigenin Induces the Apoptosis and Regulates MAPK Signaling Pathways in Mouse Macrophage ANA-1 Cells

Abstract

Apigenin is a naturally occurring plant flavonoid that possesses antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. However, there are few reports has been done on the ability of apigenin to induce apoptosis in macrophages. In this study, mouse macrophage ANA-1 cells were incubated with different concentrations of apigenin. The cell viability was determined by an MTT assay. The cell apoptosis were analyzed by flow cytometric analysis. Apoptosis were also analyzed using a TUNEL assay and a DNA ladder. The level of intracellular ROS was detected using a dichlorofluorescein -diacetate probe. The expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins were detected by western blot analysis. The results showed that apigenin decreased the viability of ANA-1 cells and induced apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Apigenin increased the level of intracellular ROS, downregulated the expression of Bcl-2 and upregulated the expression of caspase-3 and caspase-8 in ANA-1 cells. Furthermore, apigenin downregulated the expression of phospho-ERK and phospho-JNK, upregulated the expression of phospho-p38 and had no significant effect on the expression of Bax, ERK, JNK and p38. The results suggested that apigenin induced cell apoptosis in mouse macrophage ANA-1 cells may via increasing intracellular ROS, regulating the MAPK pathway, and then inhibiting Bcl-2 expression.

Apigenin promotes osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells through JNK and p38 MAPK pathways

“…The intensity of the bands was quantified using Quantity One software. OIM osteogenicinduced medium; **p \ 0.01 regulated MAPK signaling pathways [26,27]. Thus, we explored the role of JNK and p38 MAPK pathway in the apigenin-mediated regulation of osteogenic differentiation in hMSCs.…”

“…Apigenin was reported to induce apoptosis in mouse macrophage ANA-1 cells and increase melanogenesis in B16 cells via regulating the MAPK pathways [26,27]. Although some studies showed that MAPK pathways were involved in bone formation [28][29][30], the effect of apigenin on bone formation via MAPK pathways is still unknown.…”

Apigenin protects against bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in rats

“…In endothelial cells, apigenin provides a protective effect against LPS-induced inflammation by decreasing caspase-3 activation and modulating mitochondrial function (11). Apigenin exerts anti-inflammatory activity via multiple mechanisms (12), including the induction of apoptosis and the regulation of MAPK signaling pathways in mouse macrophage ANA-1 cells (13). Other mechanisms include the inhibition of inflammatory cytokine production.…”

Selective Toxicity of Persian Gulf Sea Squirt (Phallusia nigra) Extract on Isolated Mitochondria Obtained from Liver Hepatocytes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Induced Rat

“…Different size, number, and shape of the mitochondria as well as different structure and genomic alterations have been reported in cancerous cells compared to normal cells. In addition, frangibility of the mitochondria in liver cancer cells has been reported by some researchers (29,30).…”