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Curcumin Ameliorates Copper-Induced Neurotoxicity Through Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Apoptosis in SH-SY5Y Cells

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Abstract

Impaired homeostasis of copper has been linked to different pathophysiological mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases and oxidative injury has been proposed as the main mechanism. This study aims to use curcumin, a widely used antioxidative and anti-apoptotic agent, to exert the neuroprotective effect against copper in vitro and illuminate the underlying mechanism. The effect of curcumin was examined by using a cell counting kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, spectrophotometer, and western blot. Results revealed that after pretreatment with curcumin for 3 h, copper-induced toxicity and apoptosis show a significant decline. Further experiments showed that curcumin not only decreased the production of ROS and MDA but also increased the activities of the ROS scavenging enzymes SOD and CAT. Moreover, curcumin treatment alleviated the decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential and the nuclear translocation of cytochrome c induced by copper. The protein levels of pro-caspase 3, pro-caspase 9, and PARP1 were up-regulated and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was down-regulated in the presence of curcumin. Taken together, our study demonstrates that curcumin has neuroprotective properties against copper in SH-SY5Y cells and the potential mechanisms might be related to oxidative stress and mitochondrial apoptosis.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported National Natural Science Foundation of China (31972740) and Major Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shandong Province (2019JZZY010735).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Biao Xiang, Meng Li, Yuan Zhang, Tun Sun & Shusheng Tang

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Breeding and Healthy Husbandry, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Tianjin Agricultural University, Jinjing Road No.22, Xiqing District, Tianjin, 300384, People’s Republic of China

    Daowen Li

  3. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Yiqiang Chen

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  1. Biao Xiang
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Correspondence to Shusheng Tang.

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Xiang, B., Li, D., Chen, Y. et al. Curcumin Ameliorates Copper-Induced Neurotoxicity Through Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Apoptosis in SH-SY5Y Cells. Neurochem Res 46, 367–378 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-020-03173-1

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