Brief anoxia preconditioning and HIF prolyl-hydroxylase inhibition enhances neuronal resistance in organotypic hippocampal slices on model of ischemic damage.

It is well known that a brief anoxia or hypoxia episodes can render brain resistant to a subsequent ischemia. Recent investigations indicate that mechanisms of such stimulated endogenous neuroprotection are related to the family of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF), however there are still little data available on the role of HIF family members in hippocampus-a brain structure, highly sensitive to oxygen deficiency. We have used the model of cultured hippocampal slices and single-cell quantitative RT-PCR to study HIF-1α and HIF-3α mRNA expression following triple 5-min mild anoxia, 30-min oxygen-glucose deprivation and their combination. We also tested the effects of HIF prolyl-hydroxylase inhibition with 2,4-pyridinedicarboxylic acid diethyl ester pre-treatment followed by a 30-min oxygen-glucose deprivation. It was found that neuronal damage induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation was accompanied by a significant decrease in both HIF-1α and HIF-3α mRNA levels in CA1 but not CA3 neurons. Anoxia preconditioning did not affect cell viability and HIF mRNA levels but applied before oxygen-glucose deprivation prevented neuronal damage and suppression of HIF-1α and HIF-3α mRNA expression. It was also found that effects of the prolyl-hydroxylase inhibitor were similar to anoxia preconditioning. These results suggest that anoxia preconditioning increases anti-ischemic neuronal resistance which to a certain extent correlates with the changes of HIF-1α and HIF-3α expression.