Scientific Reports (Jun 2017)

HIF-1-mediated suppression of mitochondria electron transport chain function confers resistance to lidocaine-induced cell death

  • Akihisa Okamoto,
  • Chisato Sumi,
  • Hiromasa Tanaka,
  • Munenori Kusunoki,
  • Teppei Iwai,
  • Kenichiro Nishi,
  • Yoshiyuki Matsuo,
  • Hiroshi Harada,
  • Keizo Takenaga,
  • Hidemasa Bono,
  • Kiichi Hirota

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03980-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Abstract The local anesthetic lidocaine induces cell death by altering reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and mitochondrial electron transport chain function. Because hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is involved in determining oxygen metabolism and mitochondria function, we investigated the involvement of HIF-1 activity in lidocaine-induced cell death. We investigated the role of HIF activation on lidocaine-induced caspase activation and cell death in renal cell-derived RCC4 cells lacking functional von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) protein. We demonstrate that HIF-1 suppressed oxygen consumption and facilitated glycolysis in a pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase-1-dependent manner and that activation of HIF-1 conferred resistance to lidocaine-induced cell death. We also demonstrated that exogenous HIF-1 activation, through HIFα-hydroxylase inhibition or exposure to hypoxic conditions, alleviates lidocaine toxicity by suppressing mitochondria function and generating ROS, not only in RCC4 cells, but also in the neuronal SH-SY5Y cells. In conclusion, we demonstrate that HIF-1 activation due to VHL deletion, treatment with small molecule HIFα-hydroxylase inhibitors, and exposure to hypoxic conditions suppresses mitochondrial respiratory chain function and confers resistance to lidocaine toxicity.