The protective effect and mechanism of Taraxasterol on Erastin induced ferroptosis in chondrocytes
Objective To investigate the role of Taraxasterol(TAR)on ferroptosis in chondrocytes induced by Erastin.Methods The C28/I2 chondrocyte line was treated with Erastin to construct the ferroptosis model of chon-drocytes in vitro and the experiments were divided into Control,Erastin,TAR,and TAR+Erastin groups.Cell via-bility was detected by the CCK-8 assay.Cytotoxicity was detected by the lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)kit and the Calcein/PI cytokinesis kit.Flow cytometry was used to detect lipid reactive oxygen species(ROS).The intracellular glutathione(GSH)content was detected by GSH kit.Mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by JC-1 stai-ning and RH123 staining.ACSL4 and GPX4 protein expression and the key indicators of ferroptosis were detected by Western blot.Results TAR restored the decreased cell viability of C28/I2 chondrocytes induced by Erastin treatment as well as reduced Erastin-induced cytotoxicity(P<0.01).Compared with the control group,the level of intracellular lipid ROS increased(P<0.01)and the content of GSH decreased(P<0.01)after treatment with Erastin,while TAR could reduce the production of lipid ROS(P<0.01)and increase the content of GSH(P<0.01).TAR restored mitochondrial membrane potential in C28/I2 chondrocytes ferroptosis,decreased ACSL4 pro-tein expression(P<0.01)and increased GPX4 protein expression(P<0.01).In addition,TAR restored the re-duced cell viability caused by IL-1 β treatment.Conclusion TAR can inhibit Erastin induced ferroptosis in C28/I2 chondrocytes,which may be related to the regulation of ACSL4 and GPX4 protein expression.