Garcinia mangostana (a fruit) has been commonly used as a traditional drug in the treatment of various types of diseases. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential protective effect of α‑mangostin (α‑MG), a primary constituent extracted from the hull of the G. mangostana fruit (mangosteen), against CoCl2‑induced apoptotic damage in H9C2 rat cardiomyoblasts. α‑MG was demonstrated to significantly improve the viability of the CoCl2‑treated cells by up to 79.6%, attenuating CoCl2‑induced damage. Further studies revealed that α‑MG exerted a positive effect in terms of decreased reactive oxygen species generation, malondialdehyde concentration, cellular apoptosis, and increased superoxide dismutase activity. Furthermore, treatment with CoCl2 increased the cleavage of caspase‑9, caspase‑3 and apoptosis regulator BAX, and reduced apoptosis regulator Bcl‑2 in H9C2 cells, as measured by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, which were significantly reversed by co‑treatment with α‑MG (0.06 and 0.3 mM). In conclusion, these results demonstrated that α‑MG protects H9C2 cells against CoCl2‑induced hypoxic injury, indicating that α‑MG is a potential therapeutic agent for cardiac hypoxic injury.
Keywords: α-MG; protection; oxidative stress; apoptosis; H9C2 cells.