Objective To explore the effects of 2, 5-hexanedione (HD) on apoptosis and mitochondrial transmembrane potential in PC12 cells and related potential mechanism.
Methods HD (5, 10, and 20 mmol/L) were added into the culture medium of PC12 cells, and the non-exposed cells were set as control group. After 24 h, cell viability was tested by lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH), cell morphological changes were evaluated after hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, apoptosis was determined by Hochest33258 staining and flow cytometric analysis with combination of Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, and mitochondrial membrane potential was tested by JC-1 dyeing.
Results The cell viabilities were decreased to 92.23%, 86.40%, and 63.72% (all P < 0.05) of the control group after 5, 10, and 20 mmol/L HD administration, respectively, with blurred cell membrane and decreased cell count. Hochest33258 staining showed pyknotic and dark nucleus and strong blue fluorescence after HD exposure, displaying characteristic morphological changes of apoptosis. The results of flow cytometry showed that the apoptosis rates of the 5, 10, and 20 mmol/L HD groups were (10.62& #177;2.41)%, (24.20& #177;4.07)%, and (78.75& #177;8.39)% respectively, and all were significantly higher than that of the control group (0.3%) (P < 0.01). JC-1 dyeing showed that the mitochondrial transmembrane potentials of the 5, 10, and 20 mmol/L HD groups were (78.23& #177;16.85)%, (51.44& #177;10.03)%, and (22.81& #177;4.27)% of the control group, respectively.
Conclusion HD could post toxic effects and induce remarkable apoptosis in PC12 cells and its mechanism may be associated with mitochondrial transmembrane potential decline.
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