title: Methylprednisolone exerts neuroprotective effects by regulating autophagy and apoptosis.
abstract: 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 H2O2 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 H2O2 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Rui
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Meng-Yao
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Long
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Yu
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Chen-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5446-6717
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Beclin-1; H2O2; N2a cells; apoptosis; autophagy; light chain 3B; methylprednisolone; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; neuroprotection; oxidative stress; spinal cord injury