• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.140-150
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• 2002

Objectives: The water extract of Omija-tang (OMIT) has traditionally been used for treatment of ischemic heart and brain damage in oriental medicine. However, little is known about the mechanism by which the water extract of OMJT rescues cells from these damages. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the protective mechanisms of OMJT on oxidative stress-induced toxicity in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells. Methods: Treatments of $H_2O_2$, or $ZnC_{12}$ markedly induced death of H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells in a dose-dependent manner. The characteristics of oxidative stress-induced death of H9c2 showed apparent apoptotic features such as DNA fragmentation. OMJT significantly reduced both ${H_2O_2}-induced$ cell death and chromatin fragmentation. The decrease of B치-XL expression by $H_2O_2$ were inhibited by OMJT. In addition, the increase of Bcl-XS expression was also inhibited by OMJT. In particular, Fas expression, which is generally recognized as cell death-inducing signal by Fas/FasL interaction, was markedly increased by H2O2 in a time-dependent manner. Also, the expression profile of proteins in Chang cells were screened by using two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. Among 300 spots resolved in 2-D gels; the comparison of control versus apoptotis cells revealed that signal intensity of 6 spots decreased and 11 spots increased. Results and Conclusions: Taken together, this study suggests that the protective effects of the water extract of OMJT against oxidative damages may be mediated by the modulation of Bcl-XL/S Fas expression.