Protective effect of minocycline on cell apoptotic model of Parkinson's disease

Objective To explore the protective effect mechanism of minocycline (MC) on cell apoptotic model of Parkinson's disease induced by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+ ).Methods Different concentrations of MPP+ (10, 50, 250, 500 μmol/L) were added into the culture of PC12 cells. The most appropriate concentration of MPP+ (MPP+ group) was selected to establish apoptotic model of dopaminergic neurons. For selecting the most a-ppropriate concentration MC (MC+MPP+ group) of protective effect, MTT was used to assay the viability of model of dopaminergic neurons pretreated by different concentrations MC (0, 10, 50, 100, 200 μmol/L). The cell apoptosis, apoptosis ratio and caspase-3 mRNA expression of MPP+ group and MC+MPP+ group were assayed by electrophoresis method, flow cytometry and RT-PCR, and compared with control group.Results (1) At concentration of 10 μmol/L of MPP+, cell parkinsonism model of apoptosis was established. The cell viability of apoptotic model of dopaminergic neurons was the highest when pretreated by 100 μmol/L of MC ( P0.05). (2) The apoptosis ratio and caspase-3 mRNA expression of MC+MPP+ group were (22.83±2.10)% and 68.08±1.14,significantly lower than those of MPP+ group [( 45.89±2.28)% and 86.50±1.43](all P0.01), but were still significantly higher than those of control group [(11.05±1.02)% and 53.75±1.23](all P0.05).Conclusion MC might down-regulate mRNA expression of caspase-3 to alleviate PC12 cell apoptosis induced by MPP+ .