The Cardiotoxicity Induced by Arsenic Trioxide is Alleviated by Salvianolic Acid A via Maintaining Calcium Homeostasis and Inhibiting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

• Main Authors: Ruiying Wang, Jingyi Zhang, Shan Wang, Min Wang, Tianyuan Ye, Yuyang Du, Xueheng Xie, Jingxue Ye, Guibo Sun, Xiaobo Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-02-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: salvianolic acid A; arsenic trioxide; cardiotoxicity; calcium overload; endoplasmic reticulum stress
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/3/543
• ISSN: 1420-3049

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has been verified as a breakthrough with respect to the management of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in recent decades but associated with some serious adverse phenomena, particularly cardiac functional abnormalities. Salvianolic acid A (Sal A) is a major effective component in treating ATO-induced cardiotoxicity. Therefore, the objective of our study was to assess whether Sal A had protective effects by the regulation of calcium homeostasis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. For the in vivo study, BALB/c mice were treated with ATO and/or Sal A via daily tail vein injections for two weeks. For the in vitro study, we detected the effects of ATO and/or Sal A in real time using adult rat ventricular myocytes (ARVMs) and an IonOptix MyoCam system. Our results showed that Sal A pretreatment alleviated cardiac dysfunction and Ca²⁺ overload induced by ATO in vivo and vitro. Moreover, Sal A increased sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca²⁺-ATPase (SERCA) activity and expression, alleviated [Ca²⁺]ER depletion, and decreased ER stress-related protein expression. Sal A protects the heart from ATO-induced injury and its administration correlates with the modulation of SERCA, the recovery of Ca²⁺ homeostasis, and the down-regulation of ER stress-mediated apoptosis.