FOOD SCIENCE ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (7): 112-119.doi: 10.7506/spkx1002-6630-20210325-318

• Nutrition & Hygiene • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Protective Effect of Zeaxanthin on Tunicamycin-Induced Cell Cycle Arrest, Autophagy and Apoptosis of SH-SY5Y Cells

ZHANG Lina, LI Mengjie, SHANG Yinghui, LIU Yunru, HUANG Hanchang, LAO Fengxue   

  1. (Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functional Foods, Institute of Functional Factors and Brain Science, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100191, China)
  • Online:2022-04-15 Published:2022-04-26

Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effect of co-treatment with zeaxanthin (Zea) and tunicamycin (TM) on the viability, cell cycle, autophagy and apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells. Methods: The cells were divided into four groups: blank control (without drug treatment), Zea (5 μmol/L), TM-induced injury (5 μg/mL) and Zea (5 μmol/L) + TM (5 μg/mL). The methylthiazol tetrazolium (MTT) method was used to evaluate the survival rate of SH-SY5Y cells to determine the drug co-treatment time for further experiments; flow cytometry was used to determine the change of cell cycle; Western blot was used to determine the expression of autophagy-related proteins such as Beclin1, Beclin1-C and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B (LC3B), and apoptosis-related protein B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2). Results: Zea treatment (5 μmol/L) reduced the inhibitory effect of TM on the survival rate of SH-SY5Y cells. Compared to the injury group, a significant difference in the survival rate of SH-SY5Y cells was observed for the combined treatment group at 36 (P < 0.01) and 48 h (P < 0.05). In addition, compared to the blank control group, TM treatment displayed a significant difference in the survival rate of SH-SY5Y cells at 24, 36, and 48 h (P < 0.01). Compared to the blank group, TM treatment significantly increased the number of G0/G1 phase cells in the cell cycle (P < 0.01) and the expression of LC3B (P < 0.01), Beclin1 (P < 0.05) and Beclin1-C (P < 0.05), and significantly reduced the number of G2/M phase cells (P < 0.01) and the expression level of anti-apoptotic protein BCL2 (P < 0.01). The combined treatment alleviated the changes caused by TM, and significantly increased BCL2 protein expression compared to the injury group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Zea can significantly extenuate TM-induced cell cycle G1 arrest, autophagy and apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells, and its underlying mechanism is related to the modulatory of Zea on cell survival, cell cycle distribution, and the expression of autophagy and apoptosis-related proteins.

Key words: zeaxanthin, SH-SY5Y cells, cell cycle, autophagy, apoptosis

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