Fig. 1

Effect of salidroside on endothelial cell injury. HUVECs were exposed to various concentrations of ox-LDL (10, 20, 50, 100 and 150 μg/mL) for 48 h. a Cellular viability was detected by CKK-8 assay, which was normalized to control group. MDA level (b) and SOD enzymatic activity (c) in HUVECs were analyzed by chromometry using commercially available assay kits. d HUVECs were pretreated with SAL (20, 50, 100 μM) for 2 h, and then incubated with ox-LDL (100 μg/mL) for 48 h. HUVEC morphology was observed under an inverted phase contrast microscope (× 10). After 48 h of ox-LDL treatment, HUVECs demonstrate typical cellular fragmentations, vacuoles, and debris, which are obviously attenuated by SAL. SAL significantly attenuated the decrease cellular viability (e) and increase in LDH release (f) in HUVECs exposed to ox-LDL. Data are shown as mean ± SD (n = 6). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs. control group; ##P < 0.01, ###P < 0.001 vs. ox-LDL group