Autophagy Regulates Hemin Induced Neuron Death Via Apoptosis

Purpose: Autophagy can be a pro-survival or a pro-death mechanism depending on the context. The role of autophagy in intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH) remains elusive. In this study, in vitro experiments have been carried out to investigate the role of autophagy after ICH.Method: Primary cortical neurons cultures were exposed to hemin to mimic ICH in vitro. 3-Methyladenine(3-MA) and rapamycin(RAP) was pretreated. Cell death was evaluated by PI and CCK-8.The expression of proteins related autophagy and apoptosis were assessed by Western Blot and immunofluorescence analysis.Results: The numbers of PI-positive cells were decreased by 3-MA pretreated. Simultaneously, 3-MA significantly decreased the expression of LC3-II and Beclin-1, and maintained p62 at high level after ICH. Furthermore, pretreatment with 3-MA down regulated the level of cleaved caspase-3. Conversely, RAP pretreatment reversed all these results above.Conclusions: These data indicated that autophagy activation may deprave hemin induced neuron death in ICH model in vitro and the neuro-damage may be related to regulating of apoptosis, thus might provide novel therapeutic interventions for ICH.