Salvianic acid A ameliorates ox-LDL-induced ferroptosis in vascular endothelial cells by regulating TFRC

Atherosclerosis (AS) is an inflammatory disease which can results in the development of various cardiovascular diseases. Salvianic acid A (SAA) has certain curative effect on AS. This study focused on the effect of SAA on ferroptosis in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) in AS. HAECs were exposed to oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) to construct an in vitro AS model. CCK8 and PI stain was used to detect cell viability. Iron content, reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as malondialdehyde was measured to detect the occurrence of ferroptosis. Protein expression were detected by western blotting. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was applied to determine transferrin receptor (TFRC) levels. ox-LDL exposed resulted in decreased cell viability, increased mortality, increased iron content, ROS and malondialdehyde levels, increased RAS protein expression and decreased GPX4 protein expression of HAECs. However, the appropriate concentration of SAA could rescue this result. Besides, in ox-LDL-treated cells, t ferroptosis expression regulatory protein TFRC was decreased after SAA treatment. Overexpression of TFRC reversed the rescue effect of SAA on ox-LDL-treated cells. This study demonstrates that SAA ameliorates AS by affecting ferroptosis, thus providing new insights into the mechanism of AS development.