Objective: To investigate the effect of puerarin (Pue) on nitric oxide (NO) produced by neonatal rat cardiomyocytes during hypoxia/reoxygenation injury.
Method: NO contents in the culture supernatants sampled from different groups (control, model, and therapeutic groups with 1, 0.1, 0.01 g.L-1 Pue) at different time were assayed with nitrate reductase method.
Result: NO content of model increased after reperfusion (P < 0.01), while it increased sharply at 6 h after reperfusion and kept thereafter. Only at 6 h after reperfusion did Pue in these three doses inhibit NO production (P < 0.01) and kept to the 24 h after reperfusion.
Conclusion: Pue exerts inhibitive effect only after NO production is enhanced sharply during hypoxia/reperfusion injury in a dose-dependent trend.