OBJECTIVETo investigate the protective effects of paeoniflorin against PM2.5-induced damage in BEAS-2B cells and explore the possible mechanism.

METHODSWith a factorial design, this study was performed to observe the protective effects of different doses of paeoniflorin against PM2.5-induced BEAS-2B cell growth inhibition and the effects of paeoniflorin on the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cell cultures.

RESULTSExposure to increased PM2.5 concentrations caused significant decrease in the cell survival rate (P<0.05) with a clear dose-response relationship (r=-0.759, P<0.05). Treatment of the cells with paeoniflorin significantly attenuated PM2.5-induced inhibition of BEAS-2B cell survival (P<0.05), but the effect of paeoniflorin was not dose-dependent (P>0.05). PM2.5 exposure also significantly increased the contents of MDA and intracellular ROS (P<0.05), and paeoniflorin obviously antagonized these effects of PM2.5.

CONCLUSIONPaeoniflorin can protect BEAS-2B cells from PM2.5-induced growth inhibition, and the mechanism might be related to the anti-oxidant effects of paeoniflorin.