Abstract:
Background Cataract is the most common cause of blindness in the world, and ranks the first in the causes of blindness in China. Despite medical advances, surgery is still the most effective therapy for cataract at present.
Objective To investigate the effect of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) on oxidative response and apoptosis of human lens epithelial cells induced by high glucose, so as to provide evidences for the development of drugs for the treatment of diabetic cataract.
Methods Lens epithelial cells (SRA01/04) were exposed to different concentrations of glucose (5 mmol/L, 15 mmol/L, 30 mmol/L, 50 mmol/L, 100 mmol/L) for 24 h. The proliferation activity of cells in each group was determined by CCK-8, and the optimal experimental concentration of glucose was selected. Lens epithelial cells (SRA01/04) were exposed to high concentrations of glucose (D 100 mmol/L), HO-1 inducer (cobalt protoporphyrin, CoPP) and HO-1 inhibitor (zinc protoporphyrin, ZnPP); they were divided into control 5 mmol/L group, control 5 mmol/L + COPP 10 μmol/L group, control 5 mmol/L + ZnPP10 μmol/L group, D 100 mmol/L group, D 100 mmol/L + COPP 10 μmol/L group, and D 100 mmol/L + ZnPP 10 μmol/L group. Then the content of intracellular ROS in each group was determined by Rhydride cell assay. Finally, Annexin V/PI staining was used to detect the apoptosis of cells in each group, and flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis.
Results Lens epithelial cells (SRA01/04) exposed to 100mmol/L glucose showed the lowest cell proliferation activity (P < 0.05), which was selected as the optimal concentration of this experiment. The content of ROS in each group was 4.70% ± 1.27% in the control group, 2.37% ± 1.37% in the control + COPP group, 34.4% ± 1.72% in the control + ZnPP group, 51.63% ± 1.74% in the D group, 43.37% ± 2.08% in the D + COPP group, 60.10% ± 1.54% in the D + ZnPP group, respectively; High glucose led to the increase of intracellular ROS content, and the up-regulation of HO-1 expression led to the decrease of intracellular ROS content. On the contrary, when the HO-1 expression was down-regulated, intracellular ROS content was produced in large quantities. The apoptosis ratio detected by flow cytometry was 3.05% ± 0.35% in the control group, 1.69% ± 0.53% in the control + COPP group, 7.46% ± 1.85% in the control + ZnPP group, 39.56% ± 0.50% in the D group, 33.72% ± 2.05% in the D + COPP group, and 44.53% ± 0.48% in the D + ZnPP group, respectively. High glucose led to the increase of cell apoptosis ratio, and the up-regulation of HO-1 expression caused a decline in apoptosis ratio; on the other hand, the down regulation of HO-1 expression increased cell apoptosis.
Conclusion These results indicate that the up-regulation of HO-1 expression level can reduce the intracellular ROS content, thereby reducing cell apoptosis, which suggests that it plays a protective role in the high glucose induced injury of human lens epithelial cells. Therefore, HO-1 is a potential intervention for the treatment of diabetic cataract.