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Astragalus Polysaccharide Protects Against Cadmium-Induced Autophagy Injury Through Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Pathway in Chicken Embryo Fibroblast

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Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is a harmful heavy metal pollutant, which can cause oxidative stress in the body and induce cell damage. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a general term for substances that contain oxygen and are active in the body. However, excessive ROS can damage the body. Cadmium poisoning can cause a large amount of ROS in cells and autophagy. Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) is a plant polysaccharide with biological functions, such as antioxidant and anti-stress activities. In this study, chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) were used to determine the relationship between ROS and autophagy damage of Cd-infected cells and the mechanism of APS on cadmium-induced autophagy damage. The results showed that a 10-μL dose of 10 μmol/L cadmium chloride (CdCl2) can induce CEF autophagy and damage when CEF was added for 36 h. Cadmium induced CEF autophagy damage by increasing ROS production. APS could significantly reduce ROS production and LC3-II and Beclin-1 protein expression, increase the expression of mTOR and the level of antioxidation, and restore the viability and morphological damage of CEF exposed to Cd. Our study suggests that APS can alleviate Cd-induced CEF autophagy damage by reducing the production of ROS.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the members of the Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine Laboratory in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31272533).

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Author notes

  1. Xudong Shen, Zequn Tang, and Yu Bai contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China

    Xudong Shen, Zequn Tang, Meishuo Wan, Miao Yu, Jingyi Chen, Guangxing Li, Ruili Zhang & Ming Ge

  2. Key Laboratory of the Provincial Education Department of Heilongjiang, for Common Animal Disease Prevention and Treatment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China

    Xudong Shen, Zequn Tang, Meishuo Wan, Miao Yu, Jingyi Chen, Guangxing Li, Ruili Zhang & Ming Ge

  3. Department of Pathophysiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Yu Bai

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  1. Xudong Shen
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Correspondence to Ruili Zhang.

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Ethical treatment of animals used in this study was approved by the Animal Welfare Committee protocol (#NEAU-2013-02-0252-11) at Northeast Agricultural University (Harbin, China).

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Shen, X., Tang, Z., Bai, Y. et al. Astragalus Polysaccharide Protects Against Cadmium-Induced Autophagy Injury Through Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Pathway in Chicken Embryo Fibroblast. Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 318–329 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02628-y

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