Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in myocardial injury. ROS are known to inactivate lipid phosphatase and tension homolog on chromosome 10 (PTEN), an enzyme that increases apoptosis in neonatal cardiomyocytes. BpV(pic) and bpV(phen), two bisperoxovanadium molecules and PTEN inhibitors, may be involved in limiting myocardial infarction. To compare the protective effects of bpV(pic) and bpV(phen) on ROS-induced cardiomyocyte injury and their possible mechanisms, we selected two popular models of hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) and H2O2-induced injury in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts to investigate their effects against injury. We found that pre-treatment with bpV(pic) and bpV(phen) increased the viability and protected the morphology of H9c2 cells under the conditions of H/R and H2O2 by inhibiting LDH release, apoptosis and caspases 3/8/9 activities. However, their respective inhibitory abilities in the two models were different, suggesting that the quantity of ROS from the two models might be different. However, the conflict between ROS and PTEN may affect the action of bpV(pic) and bpV(phen). Taken together, the results demonstrate that bpV(pic) and bpV(phen) have inhibitory effects on oxidative stress-induced cardiomyocyte injury that may be partially modulated by the action of ROS on PTEN.
Keywords: hypoxia/reoxygenation; pV(pic); pV(phen); H9c2 cardiomyoblasts; H2O2; oxidative stress; reactive oxygen species.