Aim: This study aims to investigate the potential mechanisms associated with cardioprotective effect of arbutin (ARB) on isoproterenol hydrochloride (ISO) induced cardiotoxicity in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cell lines. Materials and Methods: The effect of the drug on cell morphology was studied by using phase contrast microscope, cell viability was studied by using 3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) staining, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was estimated by 20-7’dichlorofluorescein diacetate staining. H9c2 cells were treated with ISO to cause cell injury and the effect of the ARB on cell morphology, mitochondrial membrane potential, intracellular ROS generation, cell viability, and apoptosis were studied. Results and Conclusion: The results of this study showed that preadministration of ARB significantly prevented the ISO-induced toxic effects on cell morphology and enhanced the number of viable cells in dose-dependent manner. This study also demonstrates that ROS generation was significantly increased in ISO-administered cells and ISO-induced ROS production was found to be significantly reduced in preadministration of ARB on H9c2 cells. ISO-induced changes in mitochondrial membrane potential of H9c2 cells were remarkably improved with ARB pretreatment. These results clearly suggest that pretreatment of ARB protects the cells against ISO-induced injury through resuming mitochondrial function and regulating apoptosis.
