Rutin exerts anti-oxidant effects in H2O2-induced microglia oxidative stress

Abstract Microglia oxidative stress is of significance in central nervous system (CNS) dysfunctions. Rutin, a natural citrus flavonoid glycoside, possesses evident anti-oxidant effects in many organs. However, whether rutin participates microglia oxidative stress remains blurred. In present study, H2O2-induced BV-2 microglia oxidative stress (OS) model was used to explore how rutin act in microglia oxidative stress. Our findings suggest rutin supplement limited tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, Nitric oxide (NO) and iNOS secretion from microglia, but elevated interleukin-10 production. More importantly, rutin protected BV-2 microglia against oxidative damage by inhibiting reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) production and restoring the activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutases (SODs) and Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). Moveover, rutin upregulatd Nrf2 and Nrf-2 responsive gene expression, but downregulated keap 1 expression. These data exhibit rutin may alleviate microglia oxidative stress by modulating inflammatory factors and anti-oxidant enzymes in a Nrf2-dependent way.