Neural Regeneration Research (Jan 2016)

Methylprednisolone exerts neuroprotective effects by regulating autophagy and apoptosis

  • Wei Gao,
  • Shu-rui Chen,
  • Meng-yao Wu,
  • Kai Gao,
  • Yuan-long Li,
  • Hong-yu Wang,
  • Chen-yuan Li,
  • Hong Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/1673-5374.182711
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 5
pp. 823 – 828

Abstract

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Methylprednisolone markedly reduces autophagy and apoptosis after secondary spinal cord injury. Here, we investigated whether pretreatment of cells with methylprednisolone would protect neuron-like cells from subsequent oxidative damage via suppression of autophagy and apoptosis. Cultured N2a cells were pretreated with 10 µM methylprednisolone for 30 minutes, then exposed to 100 µM H 2 O 2 for 24 hours. Inverted phase contrast microscope images, MTT assay, flow cytometry and western blot results showed that, compared to cells exposed to 100 µM H 2 O 2 alone, cells pretreated with methylprednisolone had a significantly lower percentage of apoptotic cells, maintained a healthy morphology, and showed downregulation of autophagic protein light chain 3B and Beclin-1 protein expression. These findings indicate that methylprednisolone exerted neuroprotective effects against oxidative damage by suppressing autophagy and apoptosis.

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