Oridonin protects hydrogen peroxide-induced human lens epithelial cell damage by regulating the NLRP3/NF-κB pathway and Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress

Cataract is the clouding of eye lens, and is the leading cause of visual impairment and blindness worldwide. There is an urgent need to develop new drugs to combat this disease. Oridonin (ORI), isolated from Rabdosia rubescens, is a natural substance that has been studied as an activator of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and covalent inhibitor of NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3). Whether ORI has a therapeutic effect on human lens’ epithelial cell injury needs further study. In this study, we used cataract lens epithelial cell lines HLE-B3 and SRA01/04. We found using the MTT assay that ORI treatment increased cell viability induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In addition, ORI suppressed the apoptosis of H2O2-induced HLE-B3 and SRA01/04 cells detected by flow cytometry and Western blot analysis. Our data further revealed that ORI regulated nuclear factor, erythroid 2 (NFE2) like bZIP transcription factor 2 (Nrf2)-mediated oxidative stress by enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay. We further found that ORI inhibited NLRP3/nuclear factor-κb (NF-κB) pathway in H2O2-induced HLE-B3 and SRA01/04 cells by Western blot analysis. Therefore, these results suggested that ORI could have the potential to serve as a promising drug to treat cataract.