The cardioprotective potential of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on H2O2-induced H9C2 cell damage compared to common anti-oxidants

Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE) is a natural compound that has been found to exhibit anti-proliferative, anti-inflammative, and anti-oxidant effects, although these effects have not been fully elucidated on cardiomyocytes. Oxidative stress in the heart contributes to the pathogenesis of various cardiovascular diseases, such as ischemia/reperfusion injury following a myocardial infarction. This study investigated the cardioprotective effects of CAPE against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative injury in rat cardiomyocytes (H9c2) in pre-treatment (24 hours before H2O2) and co-treatment (with H2O2), and compared these activities to vitamin C, coenzyme Q10, and caffeic acid. Cell viability was evaluated after co-treatment and pre-treatment by a cell counting kit-8 assay. H2O2 (300 μM to 500 μM) dose dependently decreased cell viability, and 500 μM H2O2-treated cells (n=4) showed a significantly decreased cell viability of 16 ± 2% compared to control cells (p<0.05). By contrast, co-treatment (n=5) and pretreatment (n=5) of cells with CAPE (5 to 40 μM) significantly reduced cell damage in a dose dependent manner by 24-29% ± 5-8% (p<0.05). However, co-treatment and pre-treatment of caffeic acid (1-40 μM. n=3), vitamin C (100-10,000 μM, n=4), and coenzyme Q10 (0.1-100 μM, n=3) did not show any significant protection on cardiomyocytes against H2O2. These preliminary results suggest CAPE can protect cardiomyocytes against oxidative stress induced by H2O2, which indicate CAPE as a potentially beneficial supplement to maintain cardiovascular health. We plan to investigate the mechanism of action of CAPE in future studies.