Ginsenoside Rb1 protects rat retinal ganglion cells against hypoxia and oxidative stress

The current study was designed to investigate the effect of ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) on apoptosis induced by hypoxia and oxidative stress in a retinal ganglion cell line (RGC-5). The underlying mechanism was also investigated. RGC-5 cells were pretreated with 10 µmol/l Rb1 for 24 h and exposed to 400 µmol/l cobalt chloride (CoCl2) for 48 h or 600 µmol/l H2O2 for 24 h. The percentage of cells actively undergoing apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry with Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) double staining. The expression of caspases was determined using western blot analysis. CoCl2 and H2O2 treatments significantly increased the apoptotic percentages to 24.5 and 21.63%, respectively. Pretreatment of Rb1 reduced the total apoptotic percentages to 15.12 and 12.03%, respectively. The expression of cleaved caspase-3, -9 and -8 was increased in the CoCl2-treated group, however, caspase-3 was not increased in the H2O2-treated group. Pretreatment of Rb1 reduced the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and -9 in the CoCl2-treated group, but reduced only cleaved caspase-9 in the H2O2-treated group. These results suggest that Rb1 may prevent RGC-5 cells from apoptosis against hypoxia and oxidative stress via the mitochondrial pathway.