Abstract
Acute paraquat (PQ) poisoning results in severe acute lung injury and pulmonary fibrosis, and there is no specific antidote; thus, the mortality rate of PQ poisoning is extremely high. The mechanism of poisoning may be associated with endoplasmic reticulum stress, oxidative stress damage and organ/tissue inflammation. Recent studies have reported that human amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) secrete a variety of cytokines, and that hAMSC-conditioned medium (CM) has anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether hAMSC-CM exerts protective effects against PQ toxicity in A549 cells. The data demonstrated that the activity of A549 cells was decreased after 24 h of PQ exposure and that the cell viability of the hAMSC-CM intervention group was higher compared with the PQ-only group. hAMSC-CM intervention decreased cell damage, apoptosis rates, oxidative stress indexes, Bax/Bcl-2 ratios and CHOP expression levels in poisoned cells by CCK-8 experiment, apoptosis detection, ROS content detection, and Western blot analysis respectively. In conclusion, hAMSC-CM may attenuate the cell damage caused by PQ by reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress.