Open AccessMitofusin 2 Exerts a Protective Role in Ischemia Reperfusion Injury Through Increasing Autophagy
Author(s) -
Cheng Peng,
Wei Rao,
Lei Zhang,
Fan Gao,
Hao Hui,
Kai Wang,
Shuhui Dai,
Yuefan Yang,
Peng Luo,
Yang Ma,
Wenke Ma,
Xinguang Yu,
Fei Zhou
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
cellular physiology and biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.486
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1421-9778
pISSN - 1015-8987
DOI - 10.1159/000489621
Subject(s) - autophagy , autophagosome , microbiology and biotechnology , downregulation and upregulation , mfn2 , programmed cell death , mitochondrial fusion , becn1 , chemistry , neuroprotection , western blot , biology , apoptosis , pharmacology , biochemistry , gene , mitochondrial dna
Background/Aims: Autophagy is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and the survival of terminally differentiated cells as neurons. In this study, we aim to investigate whether mitofusin 2, a mitochondrial fusion protein, mediates autophagy in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Methods: Primary cultured neurons were treated with oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion to mimic cerebral I/R injury in vitro. Autophagosomes were visualized upon TEM. Autophagy-markers were then detected to monitor autophagy by western-blot and real-time PCR, and the autophagic flux was tracked with a mRFP-GFP-LC3 construct by fluorescence as well as autophagy inhibitors and agonists. The up- and downregulation of Mfn2 were through transfecting a lentivirusexpression vector respectively. And neuronal injury was detected by cell counting kit and TUNEL assay. Results: Results showed I/R increased autophagosome formation and inhibited autolysosome degradation. Furthermore, use of autophagy related agents demonstrated that I/R injury was caused by insufficient autophagy and aggravated by impaired autophagic degradation. The results also indicated that mitofusin 2 could ameliorate I/R injury through increasing autophagosome formation and promoting the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes. In contrast, downregulation of mitofusin 2 aggravated the I/R injury by inhibiting autophagosome formation and the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes. Additionly, mitofusin 2 overexpression did not lead to autolysosome accumulation induced by I/R. Conclusions: In summary, this study explicitly demonstrated that mitofusin 2 could ameliorate I/R injury mainly through promoting autophagy, which represented a potential novel strategy for neuroprotection against cerebral I/R damage.