Salidroside protects retinal endothelial cells against hydrogen peroxide-induced injury via modulating oxidative status and apoptosis.

Oxidative stress can cause injury in retinal endothelial cells. Salidroside is a strong antioxidative and cytoprotective supplement in Chinese traditional medicine. In this study, we investigated the effects of salidroside on H2O2-induced primary retinal endothelial cells injury. Salidroside decreased H2O2-induced cell death, and efficiently suppressed cellular ROS production, malondialdehyde generation, and cell apoptosis induced by H2O2 treatment. Salidroside induced the intracellular mRNA expression, protein expression, and enzymatic activities of catalase and Mn-SOD and increased the ratio of Bcl2/Bax. Our results demonstrated that salidroside protected retinal endothelial cells against oxidative injury through increasing the Bcl2/Bax signaling pathway and activation of endogenous antioxidant enzymes. This finding presents salidroside as an attractive agent with potential to attenuate retinopathic diseases.