Piceatannol protects against sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction via direct inhibition of JAK2

Sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction (SIMD) represents one of the serious complications secondary to sepsis, which is a leading cause of the high mortality rate among septic cases. Subsequent cardiomyocyte apoptosis, together with the uncontrolled inflammatory response, has been suggested to be closely related to SIMD. Piceatannol (PIC) is verified with potent anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects, but its function and molecular mechanism in SIMD remain unknown so far. This study aimed to explore the potential role and mechanism of action of PIC in resisting SIMD. The interaction of PIC with JAK2 proteins was evaluated by molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi). The cecal ligation and puncture-induced septicemia mice and the LPS-stimulated H9C2 cardiomyocytes were prepared as the models in vivo and in vitro, separately. Molecular docking showed that JAK2-PIC complex had the -8.279 kcal/mol binding energy. MD simulations showed that JAK2-PIC binding was stable. SPRi analysis also showed that PIC has a strong binding affinity to JAK2. PIC treatment significantly ameliorated the cardiac function, attenuated the sepsis-induced myocardial loss, and suppressed the myocardial inflammatory responses both in vivo and in vitro. Further detection revealed that PIC inhibited the activation of the JAK2/STAT3 signaling, which was tightly associated with apoptosis and inflammation. Importantly, pre-incubation with a JAK2 inhibitor (AG490) partially blocked the cardioprotective effects of PIC. Collectively, the findings demonstrated that PIC restored the impaired cardiac function by attenuating the sepsis-induced apoptosis and inflammation via suppressing the JAK2/STAT3 pathway both in septic mice and H9C2 cardiomyocytes.