Protective Effect of Autophagy Inhibition on Ischemia-reperfusion-induced Injury of N2a Cells

Autophagy is a conserved and programmed catabolic process that degrades damaged proteins and organelles. But the underlying mechanism and functions of autophagy in the ischemia-reperfusion (IR)-induced injury are unknown. In this study, we employed simulated IR of N2a cells as an in vitro model of IR injury to the neurons and monitored autophagic processes. It was found that the levels of Beclin-1 (a key molecule of autophay complex, Beclin-1/class. PI3K) and LC-3. (an autophagy marker) were remarkably increased with time during the process of ischemia and the process of reperfusion after 90 min of ischemia, while the protein kinases p70S6K and mTOR which are involved in autophagy regulation showed delayed inactivation after reperfusion. Administration of 3-methyladenine (3MA), an inhibitor of class. PI3K, abolished autophagy during reperfusion, while employment of rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTORC1 (normally inducing autophagy), surprisingly weakened the induction of autophagy during reperfusion. Analyses of mitochondria function by relative cell viability demonstrated that autophagy inhibition by 3-MA attenuated the decline of mitochondria function during reperfusion. Our data demonstrated that there were two distinct dynamic patterns of autophagy during IR-induced N2a injury, Beclin-1/class. PI3K complex-dependent and mTORC1-dependent. Inhibition of over-autophagy improved cell survival. These suggest that targeting autophagy therapy will be a novel strategy to control IR-induced neuronal damage.