Abstract:Objective To explore the intervention of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on apoptosis of proximal renal tubular epithelial cells induced by cisplatin (DPP). Methods The HK-2 cells were randomly assigned into a control group, DPP treated groups (0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/L) and DDP (20 mg/L)+NaHS (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.8, 1.0 and 2.0 mmol/L) treated groups. After the HK-2 cells were co-cultured with DPP or DPP+NaHS for 24 h, MTT assay was used to measure the OD value. Using 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining the morphological changes of each group were observed under fluorescence microscope, and flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis rate of each group. Results According to MTT, the OD value was (0.270 ± 0.064), (0.229 ± 0.022), (0.198 ± 0.024), (0.189 ± 0.069), (0.188 ± 0.030) and (0.165 ± 0.012) respectively in the DDP groups with different concentrations (0, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 mg/L), DDP accelerated HK-2 cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner, there was significant difference in the OD value between the 20 mg/L DDP group and the control group (P < 0.05). Adding H2S (0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.8, and 1.0 mmol/L) and DPP (20 mg/L) into the cells, the OD was (0.173 ± 0.051), (0.186 ± 0.023), (0.259 ± 0.050), (0.263 ± 0.033) and (0.268 ± 0.098) respectively, with significant increases compared to (0.153 ± 0.017) after adding 20 mg/L DDP alone (P < 0.05), the protective effect of H2S was also in a concentration-dependent manner. Through the DAPI, Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, under the effect of 20 mg/L DDP, the average number of apoptotic cells in visual field of HK-2 cells was (35.020 ± 6.079), while that in the normal negative control group was (4.230 ± 1.015), there was statistical significance between them (P < 0.05). Adding 0.5 and 1.0 mmol/L of NaHS could ameliorate apoptosis, the average number of apoptotic cells in visual field was (22.550 ± 2.912) and (9.780 ± 2.063), which were significantly lower than that of the DDP group (P < 0.05). Flow cytometry revealed that 20 mg/L DDP incubated with HK-2 cells for 24 h led to apoptosis with the rate of (31.598 ± 1.014)% which was significantly higher than (5.167 ± 0.612)% of the normal negative control group (P < 0.05). However, adding NaHS (0.5 and 1.0 mmol/L) could reduce apoptosis, the apoptosis rate were (18.375 ± 2.239)%, (11.636 ± 1.233)%, which were statistically lower than that of the DDP group (P < 0.05). Conclusions The apoptosis of human renal tubular epithelial cells induced by cisplatin can be protected by hydrogen sulfide in a concentration-dependent manner.