Puerarin protects against H2O2-induced apoptosis of HTR-8/SVneo cells by regulating the miR-20a-5p/VEGFA/Akt axis

Introduction: Preeclampsia seriously affects the health of pregnant women and fetuses. It has been reported that puerarin has a positive therapeutic effect on the treatment of preeclampsia. In this study, oxidative stress-induced trophoblast cell injury was established to explore the potential interaction between puerarin and preeclampsia. Methods: A CCK-8 assay was performed to investigate the effect of puerarin on the viability of HTR-8/SVneo cells. To mimic oxidative stress-induced trophoblast cell injury, human villous trophoblasts (HTR-8/SVneo) were treated with H2O2. Then, the relationships among MMP2, VEGFA and miR-20a-5p in HTR-8/SVneo cells were confirmed using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Finally, Western blot assays were performed to measure the expression levels of MMP2, VEGFA, p-Akt, Akt, Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase 3. Results: In this study, puerarin eliminated H2O2-induced cytotoxicity of HTR-8/SVneo cells. In addition, puerarin was able to reverse H2O2-induced apoptosis and metastasis inhibition in cells. Meanwhile, puerarin significantly abrogated H2O2-induced mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) decline in HTR-8/SVneo cells. And, MMP2 and VEGFA were identified as direct targets of miR-20a-5p. Furthermore, puerarin reversed H2O2-induced growth inhibition in HTR-8/SVneo cells by regulating the miR-20a-5p/VEGFA/Akt axis. Discussion: All these data indicated that puerarin could abolish H2O2-induced growth inhibition in HTR-8/SVneo cells by regulating the miR-20a-5p/VEGFA/AKT axis.