AIM: To explore the effect of Bu Shen Yang Xue Ming Mu(BSYXMM)Formula on hydroquinone-induced oxidative stress injury in ARPE-19 cells.

METHODS: The oxidative injury model of ARPE-19 cell was induced by exposure to various concentrations of hydroquinone(HQ)to determine the optimal concentration. Intestinal absorption solutions of BSYXMM Formula were prepared. Effect of intestinal absorption solutions of BSYXMM Formula on the cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay, and the percentage of apoptotic cells was measured by TUNEL assay. The levels of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px)in ARPE-19 cells were detected by means of chemical colorimetry.

RESULTS: It was found that ARPE-19 cell viability significantly decreased when the concentration of HQ was higher than 90μmol/L. Compared with the model group, 1% and 2% intestinal absorption solutions in the pre-treatment group could significantly alleviate HQ-induced injury(P<0.01)and 0.5% and 5% intestinal absorption solutions in the pre-treatment group could alleviate the injury in certain degree(P<0.05). While in the treatment group 1% and 2% intestinal absorption solutions could alleviate the injury to some extent(P<0.05). TUNEL results showed that the apoptosis rate decreased significantly in the pre-treatment group(P<0.01)and to some extent in the treatment group(P<0.05)compared with the model group. It was shown that both levels of SOD and GSH-Px in pre-treatment group and treatment group were markedly higher than that of model group(P<0.05), and pre-treatment group had more significant effect(P<0.01,P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: BSYXMM Formula could protect against HQ-induced oxidative stress injury in ARPE-19 cells, which may be related with the increasing of antioxidant enzyme in the cells.