Neurotoxicity Research

, Volume 30, Issue 3, pp 499–509 | Cite as

AMPK Inhibition Enhances the Neurotoxicity of Cu(II) in SH-SY5Y Cells

  • Ai-ping Lan
  • Xian-jia Xiong
  • Jun Chen
  • Xi Wang
  • Zhi-fang Chai
  • Yi Hu
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

The involvement of copper in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders has been documented but remains poorly understood. This study aimed at investigating the molecular mechanism underlying copper-induced neurotoxicity. Human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells were treated with different concentrations of Cu(II) (25–800 μM). The relative levels of AMPKα, phosphorylated (p)-AMPKα were examined by western blotting. The results showed that copper reduced cell viability and enhanced apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells. Pretreatment with N-acetyl-l-cysteine, a common ROS scavenger, decreased copper-induced cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the levels of p-AMPKα in SH-SY5Y cells were increased by a relatively low concentration of copper and decreased by a relatively high concentration of copper at 24 h. Moreover, inhibition of AMPK with compound C or RNA interference aggravated concentration-dependent cytotoxicity of Cu(II). Taken together, these results indicated that AMPK activity might be important for the neurotoxicity of Cu(II).

Keywords

Copper AMPK Apoptosis Neurotoxicity SH-SY5Y 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11375213 and 21390411) and Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ai-ping Lan
    • 1
  • Xian-jia Xiong
    • 1
    • 2
  • Jun Chen
    • 1
  • Xi Wang
    • 2
  • Zhi-fang Chai
    • 1
  • Yi Hu
    • 1
  1. 1.CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Multi-disciplinary Research Division, Institute of High Energy PhysicsChinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)BeijingChina
  2. 2.Department of Physiology, School of MedicineTianjin Medical UniversityTianjinChina

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