Abstract

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role as a mediator of skeletal muscle damage after strenuous exercise and during aging. In the present study, the protective effect of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) against hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced cytotoxicity in myoblast C2C12 cells was investigated. Through morphological and biochemical analysis, it was demonstrated that C2C12 cells treated with H₂O₂ exhibited several features of apoptosis. The apoptotic characteristic was decreased in cells treated with NAC prior to H₂O₂ exposure. In addition, it was shown that H₂O₂ increased the expression of bax but decreased the expression of bcl-2. Pre-treatment with NAC intervened H₂O₂-induced increase in the bax expression level and alleviated H₂O₂-induced suppression of bcl-2 expression. Our data show that NAC protects myoblast C2C12 cells against H₂O₂-induced apoptosis through the regulation of the expression of bax and bcl-2. (Korean J Str Res 2009;17:313∼321)

• Keywords: N-acetylcysteine, Reactive oxygen species, Hydrogen peroxide, Skeletal muscle cells, Apoptosis;