Table 2.

Effects of H₂S or its donors on age-associated diseases^a

Age-associated disease	Exptl model	H2S level	Cellular response elicited by H2S or its donors	Reference(s)
Hypertension	Spontaneously hypertensive rats	↓	Relaxing vascular muscle cell by involving different ion channels	65
Atherosclerotic disease	Human monocyte-derived macrophages	↓	Inhibiting foam cell formation by downregulating CD36, SR-A, and ACAT1 expression via the KATP-ERK1/2 pathway	66, 67
PD	6-OHDA-induced PD rat	↓	Inhibiting NADPH oxidase activation and oxygen consumption; inhibiting accumulation proinflammatory factors via NF-κB pathway; inhibiting neuronal apoptosis by improving Bcl-2/Bax	68, 69
AD	Amyloid β-induced cell toxicity in murine BV-2 microglial cells	↓	Inhibition of inflammation; promotion of cell growth and preservation of mitochondrial function in a p38- and JNK-MAPK-dependent manner	70, 71, 72
Diabetes	Streptozotocin-induced diabetes in mice	In pancreas, ↑	Stimulating β-cell apoptosis and inducing KATP channel activity	73, 74, 75, 76
		In plasma, ↓	Protecting diabetic vascular endothelial cells	77
Prostate cancer	PC-3 cells (a human prostate cancer cell line)	?	Inhibiting PC-3 cells viability by activating p38 MAPK and JNK	78
ER(−) breast cancer	Mice with human ER(−) breast cancer xenografts	?	Suppressing the growth of cancer cells by induction of G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis; downregulation of NF-κB; reduction of thioredoxin reductase activity; increased levels of reactive oxygen species	79
Colon cancer	HT-29 human colon cancer cells	?	Inhibiting cell proliferation by reducing PCNA expression; inducing G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis	80

^aPD, Parkinson's disease; AD, Alzheimer's disease; ER(−), estrogen receptor negative; 6-OHDA, 6-hydroxydopamine; SR-A, scavenger receptor A; ACAT1, acyl coenzyme A-cholesterol acyltransferase; JNK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinases; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen.