Alpinumisoflavone ameliorates H2O2-induced intracellular damages through SIRT1 activation in pre-eclampsia cell models

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is classified as pregnancy-specific hypertensive disease and responsible for severe fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality, which influenced an approximate 3 ∼ 8 % of all pregnancies in both developed and developing countries. However, the exact pathological mechanism underlying PE has not been elucidated and it is urgent to find innovate pharmacotherapeutic agents for PE. Recent studies have reported that a crucial part of the etiology of PE is played by placental oxidative stress. Therefore, to treat PE, a possible treatment approach is to mitigate the placental oxidative stress. Alpinumisoflavone (AIF) is a prenylated isoflavonoid originated in mandarin melon berry called Cudrania tricuspidate, and is well known for its versatile pharmacotherapeutic properties, including anti-fibrotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and antioxidant activity. However, protective property of AIF on extravillous trophoblast (EVT) under placental oxidative stress has not been elucidated yet. Therefore, we assessed stimulatory effects of AIF on the viability, invasion, migration, mitochondria function in the representative EVT cell line, HTR-8/SVneo cell. Moreover, protective activities of AIF from H₂O₂ were confirmed, in terms of reduction in apoptosis, ROS production, and depolarization of mitochondrial membrane. Furthermore, we confirmed the direct interaction of AIF with sirtuin1 (SIRT1) using molecular docking analysis and SIRT1-mediated signaling pathways associated with the protective effects of AIF on HTR-8/SVneo cells under oxidative stress. Finally, beneficial efficacy of AIF against oxidative stress was further confirmed using BeWo cells, syncytiotrophoblast cell lines. These results suggest that AIF may ameliorate H₂O₂-induced intracellular damages through SIRT1 activation in human trophoblast cells.