ToxSci Advance Access published online on May 18, 2009
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfp101
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Oxidative stress induces parallel autophagy and mitochondria dysfunction in human glioma U251 cells
Department of Pathophysiology, Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, 2 Xinmin Street, Changchun, Jilin, 130021, China
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Pathophysiology, Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130021, China. Fax: 86-431-85619402. E-mail: sunlk{at}jlu.edu.cn
Received February 14, 2009; revision received May 7, 2009; accepted May 8, 2009
| Abstract |
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Accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), is an oxidative stress response induced various defense mechanisms or program cell death (PCD). As one of the major types of program cell death, autophagy has been observed in response to several anticancer drugs and demonstrated to be responsible for cell death. To date, however, the exact mechanism by which reactive oxygen species regulate autophagy is still poorly understood. Thus the purpose of this study was to elucidate how H2O2 exerts its cytotoxic effects on malignant glioma U251 cells, and to uncover the molecular mechanism that might be involved. Here we show that H2O2 induced autophagy and apoptosis in U251 cells, is mediated though the Beclin 1 and Akt/mTOR pathways. Accumulation of ROS leads to changes in mitochondrial permeability with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and disruption of mitochondrial dynamics at a transcriptional level of fission and fusion. Overexpression of cellular Bcl-2 partially inhibited autophagy though both the Beclin 1 and Akt/mTOR pathways, and led to recovery of mitochondrial dynamics. When autophagy was prevented at an early stage by 3-methyladenine, apoptosis significantly increased. Our data provide the first evidence that H2O2 induces autophagy through interference with the Beclin 1 and Akt/mTOR signaling pathways, and is regulated by the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 in glioma U251 cells.
Key Words: Autophagy; Mitochondria; Bcl-2; PI3K/Akt/mTOR; Apoptosis.
Hong-yu Zhang and Xiao-xia Kong contributed equally to this paper.