β-Glucan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae alleviates oxidative stress in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells via Dectin-1/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway

β-Glucan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been described to be effective antioxidants, but the specific antioxidation mechanism of β-glucan is unclear. The objectives of this research were to determine whether the β-glucan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae could regulate oxidative stress through the Dectin-1/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. In this study, we examined the effects of β-glucan on the Enzyme activity or production of oxidative stress indicators in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells by biochemical analysis and the protein expression of key factors of Dectin-1/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway by immunofluorescence and western blot. The biochemical analysis results showed that β-glucan increased the LPS-induced downregulation of Enzyme activity of intracellular heme oxygenase (HO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and Glutathione Peroxidase (GSH-Px) while decreasing the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Furthermore, immunofluorescence results showed that β-glucan can activate the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). The antioxidant mechanism study indicated that β-glucan activated dendritic-cell-associated C-type lectin 1 (Dectin-1) receptors mediated Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway, thereby downregulating the production of ROS and thus produced the antioxidant effects in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. In conclusion, these results indicate that β-glucan potently alleviated oxidative stress via Dectin-1/Nrf2/HO-1 in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells.