Antiapoptotic effects of anthocyanins on rotator cuff tenofibroblasts

Degeneration of the rotator cuff tendon, which involves apoptosis of the tenofibroblasts, is one of the most common shoulder problems that can lead eventually to a full-thickness rotator cuff tendon tear. The current authors evaluated both the ability of anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants, to reduce apoptosis in oxidation-stressed rotator cuff tenofibroblasts, and the molecular mechanism for this antiapoptotic action. Anthocyanins demonstrated a dose-dependent ability to inhibit H(2)O(2)-induced apoptosis in cultured tenofibroblasts, as assessed by MTT assay and FACS analysis. H(2)O(2) increased the phosphorylation of extracellular regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2) and of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast, treatment with anthocyanins decreased this activation of ERK1/2 and JNK, as confirmed by Western blot analysis, and reduced the production of ROS, as verified by fluorescent microscopic and FACS analyses. These findings suggest that anthocyanins, by suppressing JNK, ERK1/2, and intracellular ROS production, have a concentration-dependent antiapoptotic effect on rotator cuff tenofibroblasts exposed to an oxidative stressor, and may have therapeutic potential.