Allopregnanolone Modulates GABAAR-Dependent CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF to Protect SH-SY5Y Cells Against 6-OHDA-Induced Damage.

Allopregnanolone (APα), as a functional neurosteroid, exhibits the neuroprotective effect on neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD) through γ-aminobutyric acid A receptor (GABAAR), but it has not been completely understood about its molecular mechanisms. In order to investigate the neuroprotective effect of APα, as well as to clarify its possible molecular mechanisms, SH-SY5Y neuronal cell lines were incubated with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), which has been widely used as an in vitro model for PD, along with APα alone or in combination with GABAAR antagonist (bicuculline, Bic), intracellular Ca2+ chelator (EGTA) and voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channel blocker (Nifedipine). The viability, proliferation, and differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells, the expression levels of calmodulin (CaM), Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II δ3 (CaMKIIδ3), cyclin-dependent kinase-1 (CDK1) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), as well as the interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and CDK1 or BDNF, were detected by morphological and molecular biological methodology. Our results found that the cell viability and the number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and TH/BrdU-positive cells in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells were significantly decreased with the concomitant reduction in the expression levels of aforementioned proteins, which were ameliorated following APα administration. In addition, Bic could further increase the number of TH or BrdU-positive cells as well as the expression levels of aforementioned proteins except for TH/BrdU-double positive cells, while EGTA and Nifedipine could attenuate the expression levels of CaM, CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF. Moreover, there existed a direct interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and CDK1 or BDNF. As a result, APα-induced an increase in the number of TH-positive SH-SY5Y cells might be mediated through GABAAR via Ca2+/CaM/CaMKIIδ3/BDNF (CDK1) signaling pathway, which would ultimately facilitate to elucidate PD pathogenesis and hold a promise as an alternative therapeutic target for PD.

Introduction

Parkinson’s disease (PD), as the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affects 1–2% of the population aged over 65 years (Farrer, 2006; Lesage and Brice, 2009; Wu et al., 2009). PD is pathologically associated with the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) and the subsequent dopamine depletion in the striatum, as well as the formation of Lewy bodies in the affected regions of central nervous system (CNS; Schapira, 2008; Morrison, 2016). A variety of neurotoxins such as 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) are routinely applied to elicit an experimental model of PD (Höglinger et al., 2004; Bové et al., 2005). 6-OHDA, as a hydroxylated analog of dopamine, is selectively accumulated in SN dopaminergic neurons, ultimately causing their dysfunction or death via the disturbance of cellular inner environment, Ca2+ homeostasis, mitochondrial function, and neuronal cell excitability, so it has been accepted as a major risk factor in the progression of PD (Blum et al., 2000; Zuch et al., 2000; Deumens et al., 2002; Dauer and Przedborski, 2003; Lehmensiek et al., 2006; Gomez-Lazaro et al., 2008; Tansey and Goldberg, 2010; Dias et al., 2013). So far, however, the etiology and mechanisms of PD have not been firmly established.

The human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell lines, which closely resembled in vivo dopaminergic neurons, were responsive to 6-OHDA toxicity, so they have become a well-established cell model for PD research to elucidate its possible pathophysiological mechanism (Cunha et al., 2013; Fernandes et al., 2017). Although SH-SY5Y cells are locked in a proliferative stage, they could obtain neuron-like phenotype following retinoic acid (RA) treatment (Miloso et al., 2004; Gilany et al., 2008). Thus, RA plays a key role in manipulating a transition from the precursor cells to post-mitotic differentiated cells in vitro (López-Carballo et al., 2002). At present, the main treatments are still not satisfactory in ameliorating the clinical symptoms of PD despite the tremendous advances that have been made (Farrer, 2006; Wu et al., 2009; Auriel et al., 2014).

The neurosteroids, which are synthesized in the neurons and glia of the brain, possess a plenty of brain-specific functions even after the removal of peripheral endocrine glands (Brinton and Wang, 2006a; Patte-Mensah et al., 2006; Joshi and Kapur, 2019). Allopregnanolone (APα), which is converted from progesterone, has been widely used because of its low side effect and high protective efficiency (Baulieu and Schumacher, 2000; Baulieu et al., 2001; Gago et al., 2004; Frye and Walf, 2008; Hsu et al., 2015). Many researches have indicated that APα promoted the proliferation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and restored the cognitive function of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mice, as well as prevented the loss of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, a rate-limiting enzyme for dopamine biosynthesis)-positive neurons in the SN pars compacta (SNpc) and their neural fibers in the striatum and ameliorated the deficits of motor performance in MPTP-injected mice (Wang et al., 2005, 2010; Wang and Brinton, 2008; Adeosun et al., 2012; Singh et al., 2012; Sun et al., 2012; Wang, 2014; Zhang et al., 2015). Accumulated evidence indicated that APα-exerted neuroactive effect was mediated by γ-aminobutyric acid A receptor (GABAAR, an inhibitory receptor of GABA-gated chloride channel; Maksay et al., 2001; Belelli et al., 2006; Hosie et al., 2006; Reddy and Jian, 2010; Wu et al., 2013).

It is commonly accepted that APα, as an allosteric modulator of GABAAR, could increase the chloride ion efflux via GABAAR and then open voltage-gated L-type calcium channel (VGLCC) in the immature neurons of mammalian brain (Keller et al., 2004; Wang and Brinton, 2008; Jagasia et al., 2009). However, some studies reported that the flux of chloride ion in the mature neurons was opposite to that in the developing or immature neurons (Perrot-Sinal et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2005; Wang and Brinton, 2008). Andersson et al. (2015) confirmed that GABAAR was expressed in the differentiated SH-SY5Y cells, although there was lack of detailed information about the effect of APα on SH-SY5Y cells (Perrot-Sinal et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2005; Wang and Brinton, 2008).

The calcium signal could activate Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) by binding to CaM. As a multifunctional serine/threonine-protein kinase, CaMKII is involved in a variety of cellular processes and important functions of CNS, for example, neuronal death, survival, maturation, and metabolism (Fukunaga and Miyamoto, 2000; Hudmon and Schulman, 2002). It is well known that there are four kinds of CaMKII isoforms including α, β, γ and δ in the brain. Some studies indicated that CaMKIIδ3 was highly expressed in the dopaminergic neurons of rat SN and striatum, but it was unclear about the expression levels of CaMKII isoforms in SH-SY5Y cells (Takeuchi et al., 2002; Kamata et al., 2006; Wang and Brinton, 2008; Zhao et al., 2008; Jagasia et al., 2009). It has been reported that the nuclear CaMKIIδ3 is involved in the expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and two cell-cycle proteins such as cyclin-dependent kinase-1 (CDK1) and cell division cycle protein-2 homolog (CDC2), which could promote the neuronal survival, proliferation and differentiation, as well as the axonal and dendritic growth (Takeuchi et al., 2002; Kamata et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2012; Shioda et al., 2015). These studies provided us with a hypothesis that APα exerted its neuroactive property possibly by modulating GABAAR-dependent CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF (CDK1) signaling pathway.

In order to observe whether the effect of APα was GABAAR-dependent, a possible GABAAR involvement modulated by APα was shown via the effect of bicuculline (Bic, a specific blocker of APα site within GABAAR). This research was applied to perform 6-OHDA-treated RA-induced SH-SY5Y cells with or without the administrations of APα, Bic, EGTA (calcium chelator) and Nifedipine (VGLCC antagonist). Our results found that the effect of APα on 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells was further reinforced by Bic including the cell viability, the number of TH, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU, a thymidine analog) and TH/BrdU-positive cells, as well as the expression levels of CaM, CaMKIIδ3, and BDNF. Because Bic alone could not significantly increase these indicators, we concluded that APα protected SH-SY5Y cells from 6-OHDA-induced damage by GABAAR-dependent mechanism. These results will provide a theoretical basis for the potential application of APα treatment in PD.

Materials and Methods

Chemicals and Reagents

In this study, all reagents, materials, and chemicals were analytical grade and highest purity, including human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell lines (SCSP-5014, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM, 11965092), Neurobasal (21103049), B27 (17504044), fetal bovine serum (FBS), glutamax (35050061), trypsin-EDTA (25300062) and sodium pyruvate (11360070; Gibco Invitrogen, MA, USA); APα (3653) and Bic (485494; Tocris, USA); Nifedipine (ab120135, Abcam, Burlingame, CA, USA); RA (R2500) and 6-OHDA (H4381; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MI, USA); penicillin and streptomycin (Solarbio, Beijing, China); bovine serum albumin (BSA) and BrdU (Bio-Sharp, China); DMSO (ST038), EGTA (ST068), phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF, ST506), TritonX-100, cytosolic and nuclear extraction kit (P0028; Beyotime, China). The concentration of key chemicals was chosen according to the relevant references (Liu et al., 2002; Miloso et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005, 2010; Gilany et al., 2008; Wang and Brinton, 2008; Fernandes et al., 2017; Xie et al., 2017; Taleb et al., 2018). All experiments should comply with the standard biosecurity and safety procedures from the ethical committee of Wenzhou Medical University according to the National Institute of Health Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH Publications No. 80-23, 1996). All assays were performed in three controlled independent experiments.

SH-SY5Y Cell Culture and Treatment Paradigm

SH-SY5Y cells were routinely cultured in the complete medium containing high glucose of DMEM supplemented with (v/v) 10% FBS, 1% glutamax and 1% sodium pyruvate in 5% CO2 humidified incubator at 37°C. The complete medium was discarded once the cells reached about 90% confluence. One milliliter of 0.05% trypsin-EDTA was added until the cells were detached from the surface of the flask. The cell suspension was centrifuged at 1,000 rpm for 5 min and the cell pellets were resuspended with the complete medium. The cells were then seeded to a six-well plate at an initial density of 5 × 105. Once SH-SY5Y cells reached more than 70% confluence, the complete medium was replaced with the differentiation medium including (v/v) 2% FBS and 0.1% RA. On day 5 in vitro cell culture, SH-SY5Y cells were performed with the following treatments.

In order to develop a PD cell model, 6-OHDA that was pre-dissolved in 0.85% sodium chloride containing 0.02% L-ascorbic acid was used to achieve the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. In addition, APα was used to explore the effect of APα on 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells. APα stock solution that was pre-dissolved in DMSO was diluted into a final concentration of 500 nM, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 μM with the serum-free Neurobasal/B27 culture medium (Note: a final concentration of DMSO was not allowed to exceed 0.1%). SH-SY5Y cells were then divided into the control, DMSO+NaCl, APα+NaCl, DMSO+6-OHDA and the different concentrations of APα+6-OHDA groups. SH-SY5Y cells treated without any chemicals and reagents were used as the control group. In the different concentrations of APα+6-OHDA groups, SH-SY5Y cells were treated with 500 nM, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 μM APα for 24 h before 0.1 mM fresh 6-OHDA solution was added to the culture medium for 24 h.

On the basis of the preliminary results, the most optimal concentration of APα was determined. In order to explore whether APα exerted its effect on 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells through acting on GABAAR, Bic (GABAAR antagonist) was used. Thus, SH-SY5Y cells were further divided into Bic+the control, Bic+6-OHDA and Bic+APα+6-OHDA groups. In the Bic+APα+6-OHDA group, SH-SY5Y cells were pre-treated with 30 μM Bic for 30 min prior to the most optimal concentration of APα and 0.1 mM 6-OHDA administrations successively with 24-h interval time. In addition, each group of cells was treated with the most optimal concentration of APα for 1 h, followed by the exposure to 10 μM BrdU in order to explore the proliferation of newborn cells.

In order to investigate whether the intracellular Ca2+ and VGLCC were involved in APα/GABAAR-induced expressions of CaM and CaMKIIδ3, EGTA and Nifedipine were used. Thus, SH-SY5Y cells were further divided into EGTA+the control, EGTA+6-OHDA, EGTA+Bic+APα+6-OHDA, Nifedipine+the control, Nifedipine+6-OHDA, and Nifedipine+Bic+APα+6-OHDA groups. In EGTA (Nifedipine)+Bic+APα+6-OHDA group, SH-SY5Y cells were pre-treated with 0.5 mM EGTA (or 5 μM Nifedipine) for 30 min prior to the administration of 30 μM Bic for 30 min, the most optimal concentration of APα and 0.1 mM 6-OHDA successively with 24-h interval time (Schematic Schematic Diagram 1).

SCHEME 1

A schematic diagram of timeline in the treatment of SH-SY5Y cells. It showed the time points of EGTA or Nifedipine, Bic, APα, BrdU, 6-OHDA administrations. SH-SY5Y cells sampling was used for the morphological and molecular biological studies. APα, allopregnanolone; 6-OHDA, 6-hydroxydopamine.

Determination of Intracellular Ca2+ Concentration by the Fluorescent Probe Method

The cytosolic free Ca2+ was measured using Ca2+-sensitive fluorescent indicator dye Fura-2/AM. Different groups of SH-SY5Y cells were loaded with 5 μM of Fura-2/AM (Sigma, USA) for 40 min. After the cells were washed three times with D-Hank’s solution (mM: NaCl 140.0, KCl 4.8, CaCl2 1.8, Glucose 10.0, NaHCO3 4.2, pH 7.2), the concentration of intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) was analyzed by a fluorescence measurement (Spectrofluorometer 850, HITACHI, Japan). The fluorescence intensity (F) was quantified at an excitation wavelength of 340/380 nm and an emission wavelength of 500 nm. [Ca2+]i (nM) was calculated according to the following formula (Chow et al., 2001): Kd×(R-Rmin)/(Rmax-R) (Note: Kd, 224 nM; R, a ratio of fluorescence intensity at 340 and 380 nm; Rmax, R when 1% TritonX-100 was added; Rmin, R when 50 mM EGTA was added).

Determination of Cell Viability by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) and Annexin V-PI Assay

In order to verify whether APα ameliorated 6-OHDA-damaged SH-SY5Y cells, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction method was applied according to Fang et al.’s (2005) report with a slight modification. SH-SY5Y cells were digested using 0.05% trypsin-EDTA and then seeded into a 96-well plate at a density of 5 × 104. In terms of 12 wells, 100 μl of serum-free Neurobasal/B27 culture medium and SH-SY5Y cells from the different groups were added to the 2nd~11th wells, respectively. Having finished the aforementioned treatments, SH-SY5Y cells were incubated with MTT (10 μl of 0.5 mg/ml working solution) for 4 h at 37°C. Finally, one hundred microliters of formazan solution was added to solubilize the blue crystals. The optical densities (O.D.) were determined at a 570-nm wavelength using a microplate absorbance reader (Elx 800, BioTek, Winooski, VT, USA).

In order to further determine the capacity that APα prevented SH-SY5Y cells from 6-OHDA-induced damage, SH-SY5Y cells were measured by Annexin V-Propidium Iodide (PI) staining according to Chen et al.’s (2008) report. The different groups of SH-SY5Y cells were washed with 1× cold PBS and then centrifuged at 2,000 rpm for 5 min at 4°C. The cell pellets were resuspended in 300 μl of 1× binding buffer at a density of 5 × 105. Each group of SH-SY5Y cells was incubated with 10 μl of Annexin V-FITC and PI (1:1; Absin Bioscience Company Limited Shanghai, China) for 10 and 5 min, respectively. Finally, two hundred microliters of 1× binding buffer was added. Flow cytometer (BD Accuri™ C6 Plus) was used to determine the percentage of various SH-SY5Y cells.

Immunocytochemical Staining

Immunocytochemical staining has been previously described with a slight modification (Sun et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2015; Xie et al., 2017). Briefly, SH-SY5Y cells were washed three times with 0.01 M PBS (pH 7.4) containing 0.1% TritonX-100 followed by fixation in 4% cold paraformaldehyde for 10 min at 4°C. In order to avoid a non-specific binding, SH-SY5Y cells were subjected to blocking buffer containing 1% TritonX-100 and 3% BSA for 1 h followed by 3 × 5 min washes with 0.01 M PBS containing 0.05% Tween 20 (PBST).

In order to detect BrdU-incorporated into DNA of dividing cells, SH-SY5Y cells were denatured using 2 N hydrochloric acid for 30 min at 37°C and then neutralized with 0.1 M borate buffer (pH 8.5) for 2 × 5 min. SH-SY5Y cells were incubated with the mouse anti-BrdU primary antibody (marker for proliferating cells; 1:400 dilutions; Novus, Littleton, CO, USA) alone or in combination with rabbit anti-TH primary antibody (marker for dopaminergic neurons; 1:400 dilutions; Merck Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA) overnight at 4°C, and then incubated with goat anti-rabbit IgG or donkey anti-mouse IgG secondary antibody conjugated with Alexa Fluor 488 or 594 (1:400 dilutions; Jackson ImmunoResearch, West Grove, PA, USA) that was appropriate for the host of the primary antibody for 1.5 h at room temperature. After intense washes with 0.01 M PBS (3 × 5 min), SH-SY5Y cells were sealed with mounting medium. Immunoreactive controls were carried out by stepwise omission of antibodies or by replacing with normal serum, and the results showed as negative.

Protein Preparation and Western Blot

Cytosolic or Nuclear Protein Extraction

The terminally differentiated SH-SY5Y cells were washed with ice-cold 0.01 M PBS (pH 7.4), and then lysed for 30 min in 500 μl of ice-cold radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA)/PMSF buffer (100:1). The lysed SH-SY5Y cells were centrifuged at 12,000 rpm for 20 min at 4°C. The supernatant was collected and then transferred to a pre-chilled tube (total protein fraction). The cell pellets were resuspended in 50 μl of cytosolic protein extraction buffer, vibrated for 5 s and then placed on ice for 15 min. The lysed SH-SY5Y cells were centrifuged at 12,000 rpm for 5 min at 4°C. The supernatant was collected and then transferred to a pre-chilled tube (cytosolic protein fraction). The cell pellets were resuspended in 50 μl of nuclear protein extraction buffer, vibrated vigorously for 30 s, and then placed on ice for 2 min. The lysed SH-SY5Y cells were centrifuged at 12,000 rpm for 10 min at 4°C. The supernatants were collected and transferred to a pre-chilled tube (nuclear protein fraction). The purity of cytosolic and nuclear fractions was validated by the control cell fraction, which was not treated with cytosolic and nuclear protein extraction buffer. The cytosolic or nuclear protein extraction was stored at −80°C for further analysis.

Western Blot Analysis

The protein concentration was determined by BCA assay (Beyotime, China). Forty micrograms of cytosolic or nuclear protein extraction were loaded with 5× loading buffer containing 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 0.01% bromophenol blue for 10 min at 95°C water bath, separated by 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) at 60 and 100 V successively. The protein band was cut out from PAGE and electro-transferred onto polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane for 1.5 h at 220 mA. Thereafter, a nonspecific binding site was blocked with 5% non-fat milk in 50 mM Tris-buffered saline and 0.1% Tween 20 (TBST, pH 7.5) for 2 h at room temperature. The membrane was subjected to the following specific primary antibodies overnight at 4°C including rabbit anti-calmodulin, CaMKIIδ3, BDNF, CDK1, p-CDC2 (T14) or Histone H3 (1:1,000, Abcam, Cambridge, UK), mouse anti-β-actin (1:2,000, Abgent, San Diego, CA, USA) and mouse anti-GAPDH (1:5,000, Proteintech). After washes three times with 1× TBST, the membrane was incubated with the appropriate horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated goat anti-mouse or rabbit secondary antibody (1:5,000, Jackson) for 2 h at room temperature. The immunoreactive protein bands were detected with an enhanced chemiluminescent (ECL) kit (Beyotime, China). The protein levels were normalized with respect to β-actin or GAPDH or Histone H3 (domestic loading controls) and the relative O.D. was calculated using ImageJ software (NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA).

Immunoprecipitation Assay

The interaction of CaMKIIδ3 with BDNF or CDK1 was performed according to the co-immunoprecipitation protocol (Absin, China). Ten percent of cytosolic or nuclear fraction from SH-SY5Y cells was taken out as an input (positive control). The pre-chilled double distilled water was added to the remaining cell pellets. Five hundred microliters of cytosolic or nuclear protein extraction buffer were incubated for 40 min at 4°C with 10 μl of Protein A/G sepharose bead (1:1), which was pre-coated with 2.5 μl of rabbit anti-CaMKIIδ3 antibody or normal rabbit IgG (negative control) overnight at 4°C. CaMKIIδ3 antibody or IgG-coupled bead was separated from the supernatant using a magnetic rack. The magnetic bead was washed thoroughly with 0.5 ml 1× wash buffer, and the eluted protein from the bead was dissolved into 1× loading buffer. The input or immunoprecipitation was heated for 5 min at 95°C and then processed for Western blot using rabbit anti-BDNF or CDK1 antibody (1:1,000, Abcam, Cambridge, UK), as described in Western blot analysis.

Plasmid Construction and Cell Transduction

In order to determine whether there existed a direct interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF or CDK1 in SH-SY5Y cells treated with 6-OHDA and/or APα, a small hairpin (sh) RNA against CaMKIIδ3 was constructed. As shown in Schematic Schematic Diagram 2, the sequence of shRNA-CaMKIIδ3 was identified as 5’-GCACGAAAGCAAGAGATTATC-3’ using CaMKIIδ3 gene coding sequence (Genebank: NM_001221.2). The psi-LVRU6GP lentiviral vector was digested by BamHI and EcoRI restriction enzymes. Double strands of shRNA-CaMKIIδ3 was inserted into the psi-LVRU6GP lentiviral vector. The psi-LVRU6GP lentiviral vector harbored both the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and puromycin resistance genes, so it could track shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells by EGFP expression. Non-targeting negative control shRNA, which consisted of a random sequence and shRNA-EGFP lentivirus, was used as the scrambled shRNA control.

SCHEME 2

CaMKIIδ3 shRNA construct and psi-LVRU6GP lentiviral vector (provided by GeneCopoeia™, USA). The shRNA-CaMKIIδ3 was cloned into the psi-LVRU6GP lentiviral vector under the control of U6. shRNA, short hairpin RNA; LTR, long terminal repeat; RRE, Rev response element; U6 and SV40, promoter; eGFP, enhanced green fluorescent protein; IRES, internal ribosomal entry sites; Puro, puromycin; WPE, woodchuck post-transcriptional regulatory element; ψ, psi packaging sequence; Amp, ampicillin; pUC ori, origin of replication.

In order to ascertain a functional titer of lentiviral particles, SH-SY5Y cells were seeded at a density of 4 × 104. Once the cell densities achieved more than 50% confluency, SH-SY5Y cells were stably transduced with 50 μl of shRNA-CaMKIIδ3 or scrambled shRNA control. The functional titer (TU/ml) was expressed as a multiplicity of infection (MOI), which was determined by counting the volume of lentiviral particles required to infect SH-SY5Y cells in duplicate. Non-targeting negative control lentiviral particles (3.03 × 108 TU/ml) were diluted to a final tilter (1.0 × 108 TU/ml) with the serum-free Neurobasal/B27 culture medium to obtain five series of lentiviral solution (MOI: 1, 2.5, 5, 10 and 20), which were added to SH-SY5Y cells culture medium, respectively. Four days later, EGFP expression was observed under a fluorescent microscope (Olympus Corporation Japan) to determine the most optimal MOI.

In order to achieve a stable transduced cell lines, SH-SY5Y cells harboring shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-LVRU6GP were seeded into a 24-well plate at a density of 8 × 104. Once the cell densities achieved more than 75% confluency, the puromycin (neoFroxx, Einhausen, Germany) selection was performed. A working concentration of puromycin was used ranging from 1 to 10 μg/ml. SH-SY5Y cells harboring shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-LVRU6GP were incubated with 500 μl of the different concentrations of puromycin for 3 days, meanwhile, the cell viability assay was performed to determine the most optimal toxicity effect. The puromycin-resistant EGFP-positive cells were selected for the following experiments.

SH-SY5Y cells were divided into the blank control, scramble shRNA control+DMSO, scramble shRNA control+DMSO+6-OHDA, scramble shRNA control+APα+6-OHDA, shRNA-CaMKIIδ3+DMSO, shRNA-CaMKIIδ3+DMSO+6-OHDA, and shRNA-CaMKIIδ3+APα+6-OHDA groups. In the shRNA-CaMKIIδ3+APα+6-OHDA group, shRNA-CaMKIIδ3 transduced SH-SY5Y cells were pre-treated with 500 nM APα for 24 h, followed by the administration of 0.1 mM 6-OHDA for 24 h. Thereafter, the cytosolic or nuclear protein fraction was extracted for Western blot.

Data Acquisition and Statistical Analysis

The images of TH, BrdU and TH/BrdU-double-immunopositive cells were captured under a fluorescent microscope equipped with Microfire CCD camera (Olympus Corporation Japan). In order to cover the entire SH-SY5Y cells that were seeded onto the coverslips, five visual fields including superior, central, inferior parts, as well as left and right-hand sides were randomly selected to count the number of immunopositive cells or measure the neurite length using Image J software. According to Bertram et al. (2019), the neurite length was defined as the distance between the center of the cell soma and the tip of its longest neurite. The number of TH or BrdU or TH/BrdU-double-immunopositive cells, as well as the neurite length in each group, was expressed as an average value in five visual fields. The O.D. of protein bands were quantified as the relative value to the control group. During the experimental process, all parameters and protocols were kept constant. The codes of all coverslips and protein bands were not revealed until the immune processing, cell counting and qualification analysis have been completed.

Statistical analysis was performed using Prism 7.04 statistical software (GraphPad, San Diego, CA, USA). All data were presented as the mean ± standard error mean (SEM) and statistically analyzed by one or two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or repeated measures of ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test for multiple groups. The differences were considered to be statistically significant when the probability (p) value was less than or equal to 0.05, 0.01, 0.001 and 0.0001.

Results

Effect of APα on the Morphological Characteristics of 6-OHDA-Treated SH-SY5Y Cells in vitro

On day 1 in vitro cell culture, our results showed that the undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells were equally distributed and revealed an elliptic or fusiform-like morphology with short processes. Once 10 μM of RA was added to SH-SY5Y cell culture medium, the differentiated SH-SY5Y cells displayed a dramatic morphological change from a fusiform into triangular soma, meanwhile, their processes grew ramifications vigorously and formed a network. In comparison with the control, DMSO+NaCl and APα+NaCl groups, 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells had a significant reduction in the neurite length (p < 0.0001). Because 4 μM was selected as the most optimal APα concentration, we found that the exposure of 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells to 4 μM of APα resulted in a significant rise of neurite length, although it did not recover to the normal levels (p < 0.0001). Bic+APα+6-OHDA group had a much more surviving cell than APα+6-OHDA group, but no obvious differences were observed in the neurite length between two groups (Figure 1). These results demonstrated that APα could partly ameliorate the morphological changes in 6-ODHA-treated SH-SY5Y cells.

Figure 1

Comparison of morphological changes in vitro cultured SH-SY5Y cells among groups. Phase-contrast images were shown in the (A) Control, (B) DMSO+NaCl, (C) APα+NaCl, (D) DMSO+6-OHDA, (E) APα+6-OHDA and (F) Bic+APα+6-OHDA groups. Scale bar = 200 μm for images (A–F). (G) Comparison of neurite length in SH-SY5Y cells among the groups. ****p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and the control or DMSO+NaCl or APα+NaCl groups; ####p < 0.0001, comparison between 4 μM APα+6-OHDA and DMSO+6-OHDA groups; &&&&p < 0.0001, comparison between 4 μM APα+6-OHDA and the control or DMSO+NaCl or APα+NaCl groups.

Protective Effect of APα on 6-OHDA-Induced SH-SY5Y Cell Damage

In order to confirm whether APα-induced an increase in SH-SY5Y cells following 6-OHDA treatment was associated with the neuroprotective effect of APα, we analyzed the cell viability by MTT assay. We found that 4 μM was selected as the most optimal APα concentration in MTT assay. Our results indicated that SH-SY5Y cells treated with 6-OHDA had an approximate 54.6–65.8% reduction in the cell viability, as compared with the control, DMSO+NaCl and APα+NaCl groups (p < 0.0001), which was ameliorated by 4 μM of APα administration (p = 0.002), although it did not recover to the normal levels (p < 0.0001). In addition, we found that the cell viability was further increased in Bic+4 μM APα+6-OHDA group, as compared with 4 μM APα+6-OHDA group (p = 0.02; Figure 2H).

Figure 2

Cell viability (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT, assay) or the percentage of various SH-SY5Y cells (Annexin V-PI assay) among groups. Panels (A–G) showed the percentage of viable (Q4), early apoptotic (Q3), late apoptotic (Q2) and necrotic (Q1) cells in the control (A), Bic+control (B), APα+NaCl (C), DMSO+6-OHDA (D), Bic+6-OHDA (E), APα+6-OHDA (F) and Bic+APα+6-OHDA (G) groups by flow cytometer. (H–L) Quantification of the cell viability (H) or the percentage of viable (I), early apoptotic (J), late apoptotic (K) and necrotic (L) cells in various groups of SH-SY5Y cells. ****p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and the control or DMSO+NaCl or Bic+control or 4 μM APα+NaCl groups; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ####p < 0.0001, comparison between 4 μM APα+6-OHDA and DMSO+6-OHDA groups; &p < 0.05, comparison between Bic+4 μM APα+6-OHDA and 4 μM APα+6-OHDA groups; $$$$p < 0.0001, comparison between 4 μM APα+6-OHDA and the control or DMSO+NaCl or Bic+control or 4 μM APα+NaCl groups. NS, no significance.

In addition, an Annexin V-PI assay was performed to further verify the capacity that APα rescued 6-OHDA cytotoxicity. Flow cytometer was used to quantitatively determine the percentage of viable, early apoptotic, late apoptotic and necrotic cells, as seen in Figures 2A–G. One-way ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference in the percentage of viable cells in the total cells (F(6,14) = 695.6, p < 0.0001; Figure 2I), which was in accordance with the results from MTT assay. SH-SY5Y cells treated with 6-OHDA had a significant increase in the percentage of apoptotic and necrotic cells, as compared with the control, Bic+control and 4 μM APα+NaCl groups (p < 0.0001), which was ameliorated by 4 μM of APα administration (p = 0.01, p < 0.0001). However, there was not a significant difference in the percentage of apoptotic and necrotic cells between 4 μM APα+6-OHDA and Bic+4 μM APα+6-OHDA groups (Figures 2J–L). Moreover, Bic alone could not significantly increase the cell viability or decrease the percentage of apoptotic and necrotic cells in both the control and 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells.

APα Treatment Partially Restored the Number of the TH-Positive SH-SY5Y Cells by Inducing the Generation of Newborn Cells

Since RA-induced SH-SY5Y cells exhibited a medium level of TH activity, we performed TH or BrdU or TH/BrdU-double immunofluorescent staining to determine the effect of APα on the proliferation of newborn cells and their differentiation. TH antigen was mainly present in the cytosolic fraction of neuronal cells, while BrdU-positive cells exhibited a medium-sized round or oval nucleus and resembled a chromatin-like structure (Figures 3A–I).

Figure 3

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) staining, identification of various kinds of positive cells and their quantification in vitro cultured SH-SY5Y cells. The representative TH-positive neurons were shown in the (A) Control, (B) DMSO+NaCl, (C) APα+NaCl, (D) DMSO+6-OHDA, (E) APα+6-OHDA and (F) Bic+APα+6-OHDA groups, as well as TH-positive neurons (G, green color) and BrdU-positive cells (H, red color). The image (I) was formed by merging images (G,H). In the image (I), TH/BrdU-double positive cells indicated by yellow arrows were formed by merging TH-positive neurons displayed by green arrows (G) and BrdU-positive cells denoted by red arrows (H). Scale bar = 50 μm for images (A–I). (J) Quantification of TH, BrdU and TH/BrdU-double-positive cells among groups. ****p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and the control or DMSO+NaCl or 2 μM APα+NaCl groups; ##p < 0.01, ####p < 0.0001, comparison between 2 μM APα+6-OHDA and DMSO+6-OHDA groups; &&p < 0.01, &&&p < 0.001, comparison between Bic+2 μM APα+6-OHDA and 2 μM APα+6-OHDA groups for TH or BrdU-positive cells; $$$p < 0.001, $$$$p < 0.0001, comparison between 2 μM APα+6-OHDA and the control or DMSO+NaCl or APα+NaCl groups.

One-way ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference in TH, BrdU and TH/BrdU-double positive cells (F(5,12) = 126 or 61.4 or 73.6, p < 0.0001). Our results showed that about 32.5 ± 4.3% of SH-SY5Y cells could express TH following 10 μM of RA treatment. The number of SH-SY5Y differentiated TH-positive cells, as well as BrdU and TH/BrdU-double positive cells were significantly decreased in DMSO+6-OHDA, as compared with the control, DMSO+NaCl and APα+NaCl groups (p < 0.0001). Since 2 μM was selected as the most optimal APα concentration, we found that 2 μM of APα treatment could significantly increase the number of SH-SY5Y differentiated TH, as well as BrdU and TH/BrdU-double positive cells in 6-OHDA-administrated SH-SY5Y cells (p < 0.0001 or p = 0.002), but the recovery has not reached the normal levels (p < 0.001 or p < 0.0001). In Bic+2 μM APα+6-OHDA group, not only SH-SY5Y differentiated TH-positive cells but also BrdU-positive cells were further increased significantly (p = 0.0002 or p = 0.007), however, TH/BrdU-double positive cells were slightly decreased without a significant difference when compared with 2 μM APα+6-OHDA group (Figure 3J). These results indicated that APα partially restored the number of SH-SY5Y differentiated TH-positive cells via GABAAR, but APα-promoted an increase in the newborn TH-positive neurons might contribute a little to the recovery of TH-positive cells in 6-OHDA-damaged SH-SY5Y cells.

Effect of APα Treatment on the Expressions of CAMKIIΔ3, CaM, P-CDC2, CDK1 and BDNF in 6-OHDA-Administrated SH-SY5Y Cells

To study the possible mechanisms involved in APα-induced amelioration in the number of 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells, we examined whether Ca2+/CaM-dependent CaMKII played an important role. As CaMKIIδ3 was mainly expressed in the SN dopaminergic neurons of mice (Kamata et al., 2006; Mouton-Liger et al., 2011), moreover, the progesterone promoted the expressions of cell cycle proteins and neurotrophic factors in response to CNS injury (González et al., 2004; Cekic et al., 2012), we further analyzed the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CaM, p-CDC2, CDK1 and BDNF in 6-OHDA and/or APα-treated SH-SY5Y cells.

One-way ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference of CaMKIIδ3 (F(9,24) = 7.6 or F(9,40) = 9.3), CaM (F(9,15) = 39.2), p-CDC2 (F(9,18) = 8.6), CDK1 (F(9,25) = 14.4) and BDNF (F(9,25) = 18) in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction (p < 0.0001). Our results indicated that the expression levels of aforementioned proteins in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells were significantly decreased, as compared with the control, DMSO+NaCl and APα+NaCl groups. Once SH-SY5Y cells were treated with the different concentrations of APα following 6-OHDA administration, there was a significant increase in the protein expression levels when APα concentration was at 2 (CaMKIIδ3 or CaM or CDK1 or BDNF), 3 (CaMKIIδ3 or p-CDC2 or CDK1 or BDNF), 4 (CaMKIIδ3 or CaM or CDK1 or BDNF), 5 (CaMKIIδ3 or BDNF) and 10 μM (CaMKIIδ3 or CDK1 or BDNF). When the aforementioned proteins achieved a peak expression level, the most optimal APα concentration varied ranging from 2 to 4 μM, although APα concentration did not exhibit a dose-dependent fashion (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Effect of different concentrations of APα on the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, p-CDC2, CDK1, CaM and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in 6-OHDA-damaged SH-SY5Y cells. (A) Representative Western blot bands for CaMKIIδ3 (52 kD), p-CDC2 (33 kD), CDK1 (33 kD), CaM (17 kD) and BDNF (15 kD) expressions were shown in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells. β-actin (43 kD) and Histone H3 (17 kD) bands showed as loading controls. Lane 1–10: the control; DMSO+NaCl; APα+NaCl; DMSO+6-OHDA; 500 nM, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 μM APα+6-OHDA. C: cytosolic fraction; N: nuclear fraction. (B–G) Quantification of the relative protein levels was shown for CaMKIIδ3 (B,C), p-CDC2 (D), CDK1 (E), CaM (F) and BDNF (G) in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 and ****p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and the control or DMSO+NaCl or APα+NaCl groups; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ###p < 0.001 and ####p < 0.0001, comparison between different concentrations of APα+6-OHDA and DMSO+6-OHDA groups; $p < 0.05, $$p < 0.01 and $$$p < 0.001, comparison between the different concentrations of APα+6-OHDA and control groups. NS, no significance.

GABAAR Action in the Effect of APα on the Expression Levels of CaMKIIΔ3, CaM, p-CDC2, CDK1 and BDNF in 6-OHDA-Administrated SH-SY5Y Cells

In order to determine the effect of APα on the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CaM, p-CDC2, CDK1 and BDNF in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells via GABAAR, Bic was added to SH-SY5Y cells culture medium following 6-OHDA and/or APα administrations. In the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells, One-way ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference in the CaMKIIδ3 (F(5,23) = 58.6, F(5,32) = 27.7), p-CDC2 (F(5,15) = 53.5), CDK1 (F(5,17) = 112), CaM (F(5,13) = 51) and BDNF (F(5,23) = 62) (p < 0.0001). Our results indicated that Bic alone could not significantly increase CaMKIIδ3, p-CDC2, CDK1, CaM and BDNF expression levels in both the control and 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Except for CaMKIIδ3 in the nuclear fraction, the most optimal concentration of APα treatment was almost able to recover the expression levels of the aforementioned proteins in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells. In addition, APα could further increase these protein expression levels after GABAAR was blocked by Bic (Figure 5).

Figure 5

GABAAR action in the effect of APα on the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CaM, p-CDC2, CDK1 and BDNF in 6-OHDA-damaged SH-SY5Y cells. (A) Representative Western blot bands for CaMKIIδ3 (52 kD), CaM (17 kD), p-CDC2 (33 kD), CDK1 (33 kD) and BDNF (15 kD) expressions were shown in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells. GAPDH (36 kD) and Histone H3 (17 kD) bands showed as loading controls. Lane 1–6: the control; Bic+control; DMSO+6-OHDA; Bic+6-OHDA; the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and Bic+the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA. C: cytosolic fraction; N: nuclear fraction. (B–G) Quantification of the relative protein levels was shown for CaMKIIδ3 (B,C), p-CDC2 (D), CDK1 (E), CaM (F) and BDNF (G) in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells. ****p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and the control or Bic+control groups; #p < 0.05, ###p < 0.001 and ####p < 0.0001, comparison between the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and DMSO+6-OHDA groups; &&p < 0.01, &&&&p < 0.0001, comparison between Bic+the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA; $p < 0.05, $$p < 0.01, comparison between the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and the control or Bic+control groups. NS, no significance.

APα Increased the Expression Levels of CaM, CaMKIIΔ3 and BDNF in 6-OHDA-Treated SH-SY5Y Cells by Ca2+ Influx via VGLCC

Based on the previous findings that APα could increase an efflux of chloride through GABAAR depolarization, leading to the opening of VGLCC in immature neurons (Wang et al., 2005; Wang and Brinton, 2008; Jagasia et al., 2009), we hypothesized that APα administration caused an increase in CaM and CaMKIIδ3 expression levels of 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells by opening VGLCC and then allowing a rapid influx of extracellular Ca2+ after GABAAR were blocked by Bic.

In order to elucidate this hypothesis, SH-SY5Y cells were pre-treated with EGTA or Nifedipine prior to the administrations of Bic, APα, and 6-OHDA to determine the effects of intracellular Ca2+ and VGLCC on APα-induced CaM, CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF expression levels. One-way ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference in the [Ca2+]i (F(9,20) = 106.1, p < 0.0001). Our results indicated that Bic alone could evoke a slight increase in [Ca2+]i under a physiological condition, but did not exert a significant effect on 6-OHDA-treated cells. The cytosolic Ca2+ concentration was significantly increased in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells, which was obviously blocked by APα treatment. When GABAAR was inhibited by Bic, APα-induced a further increase in [Ca2+]i was antagonized by either EGTA or Nifedipine. Nifedipine alone could not significantly decrease [Ca2+]i in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells, although EGTA alone partly bound to cytosolic Ca2+ by its chelate effect (Figure 6A).

Figure 6

Action of intracellular Ca2+ and VGLCC in the effect of APα on the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CaM, and BDNF in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells. (A) Measurement of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration levels in various groups of SH-SY5Y cells. (B,E) Representative Western blot bands for CaMKIIδ3 (52 kD), CaM (17 kD) and BDNF (15 kD) expressions were shown in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells. GAPDH (36 kD) and Histone H3 (17 kD) bands showed as loading controls. Lane 1–7: the control; EGTA (Nifedipine)+control; DMSO+6-OHDA; EGTA (Nifedipine)+6-OHDA; the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA; Bic+the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and EGTA (Nifedipine)+Bic+the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA. C: cytosolic fraction; N: nuclear fraction. (C,D,F–I) Quantification of the relative protein levels was shown for CaMKIIδ3 (C,F,G), CaM (D,H) and BDNF (I) in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 and ****p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and the control or EGTA (Nifedipine)+control groups; ###p < 0.001, ####p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA groups; &p < 0.05, &&p < 0.01 and &&&&p < 0.0001, comparison between the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and Bic+the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA groups; $$$p < 0.001, $$$$p < 0.0001, comparison between Bic+the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and EGTA (Nifedipine)+Bic+the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA groups; ∧p < 0.05, comparison between the control and Bic+control groups for the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration levels or between 2 μM APα+6-OHDA and the control groups for CaMKIIδ3 expression levels in the nuclear fraction; ++++p < 0.0001, comparison between EGTA+6-OHDA and DMSO+6-OHDA groups for the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration levels. NS, no significance.

In addition, EGTA could attenuate the expression levels of cytosolic CaMKIIδ3 and CaM (F(6,25) = 69.8 or F(6,15) = 84.8, p < 0.0001) in SH-SY5Y cells of Bic+APα+6-OHDA group, suggesting that APα-induced an increase in the expression levels of cytosolic CaMKIIδ3 and CaM was mediated by an influx of extracellular Ca2+ after GABAAR were blocked (Figures 6B–D). Likewise, Nifedipine could significantly decrease CaMKIIδ3 and CaM expression levels of cytosolic fraction (F(6,25) = 71.5 or F(6,15) = 77.9, p < 0.0001), as well as CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF expression levels of nuclear fraction (F(6,31) = 30.6 or F(6,22) = 49.3, p < 0.0001) in SH-SY5Y cells of Bic+APα+6-OHDA group (Figures 6E–I). Moreover, EGTA or Nifedipine alone could not significantly decrease CaM, CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF expression levels in both the control and 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells. These results demonstrated that APα required VGLCC activation and an influx of extracellular Ca2+ to promote the expressions of Ca2+-related proteins including CaM and CaMKIIδ3, as well as neurotrophic factor BDNF.

Co-immunoprecipitation Assay Verified the Interactions Between CaMKIIΔ3 and BDNF or CDK1

In order to investigate whether there existed an interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF or CDK1, we performed the co-immunoprecipitation assay. The cytosolic or nuclear fraction from SH-SY5Y cells was pre-coated with anti-CaMKIIδ3 antibody or normal rabbit IgG (negative control). The immunoprecipitation containing CaMKIIδ3 was processed for Western blot using a rabbit anti-BDNF or CDK1 antibody. Our results demonstrated that a small fraction of BDNF or CDK1 was also present in the cytosolic fraction, although they were mainly located in the nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells. As a bait protein, CaMKIIδ3 could bind to BDNF or CDK1 in both the cytosolic and nuclear fractions, in particular, in the nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells, suggesting that there existed an interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF or CDK1 (Figure 7).

Figure 7

Interaction of CaMKIIδ3 with BDNF or CDK1 in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells by co-immunoprecipitation assay. The interaction was shown in CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF (A) or CaMKIIδ3 and CDK1 (B). Co-immunoprecipitation assay was performed with anti-CaMKIIδ3 antibody or rabbit IgG as negative control. Western blot bands for BDNF and CDK1 were at 15 and 33 kD, respectively. N: nuclear fraction; C: cytosolic fraction; IP: immunoprecipitation; IB: immunoblot; input: positive control.

SHRNA-CaMKIIΔ3 Directly Affected the Expressions of BDNF and CDK1 in the Nuclear Fraction of SH-SY5Y Cells

In order to determine whether there existed a direct interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF or CDK1, we constructed shRNA against CaMKIIδ3. First, the most optimal MOI was determined. Five dilutions of non-targeting negative control lentiviral particles were transduced into SH-SY5Y cells. By counting the number of EGFP-positive SH-SY5Y cells, our results revealed that the transduced SH-SY5Y cells with shRNA-CaMKIIδ3 had a much stronger EGFP expression and grew much better at MOI 10, as compared with MOI 1, 2.5, 5 and 20. Therefore, MOI 10 was used as the most optimal value (Supplementary Figure S1).

Second, the most optimal titration of puromycin was determined. SH-SY5Y cells were subjected to an increasing dose of puromycin (1–10 μg/ml) for 3 d. By MTT assay, our results found that the viability of SH-SY5Y cells was decreased with an increasing dose of puromycin. One microgram/milliliter of puromycin was selected as the most optimal concentration. Having finished the puromycin selection, the transduction efficiency (EGFP-positive SH-SY5Y cells/total SH-SY5Y cells) was significantly increased, as compared with the non-puromycin selection (85.6 ± 3.6 vs 12.3 ± 2.0, p < 0.0001; Supplementary Figure S2).

Finally, SH-SY5Y cells were transduced with scrambled shRNA control or shRNA-CaMKIIδ3 to silence CaMKIIδ3. Two-way ANOVA showed there was a significant difference between the scramble shRNA control and shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells or among various treatments (p < 0.0001). We found that APα treatment could also partially or completely recover the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CDK1 and BDNF in 6-OHDA-damaged scramble shRNA control-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. In shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells, our results showed that CaMKIIδ3 expression was significantly decreased, as compared with the blank control group, suggesting that CaMKIIδ3 gene was successfully silenced by shRNA-CaMKIIδ3. The expression levels of BDNF and CDK1 in shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells were also significantly decreased, which were followed by CaMKIIδ3 gene silencing, suggesting that there existed a direct interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF or CDK1. In addition, 6-OHDA further decreased the expression levels of BDNF and CDK1 in shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. Interestingly, APα treatment did not increase the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CDK1 and BDNF in 6-OHDA-damaged shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. These results demonstrated that APα-induced an increase in BNDF and CDK1 expression levels of 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells was mediated via GABAAR/CaMKIIδ3 signaling pathway (Figure 8).

Figure 8

Expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CDK1, and BDNF in the scramble shRNA control or shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. (A) Representative Western blot bands for CaMKIIδ3 (52 kD), CDK1 (33 kD) and BDNF (15 kD) expressions were shown in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of scramble shRNA control or shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. GAPDH (36 kD) and Histone H3 (17 kD) bands showed as loading controls. Lane 1–4: the blank control, DMSO, DMSO+6-OHDA and the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA in the scramble shRNA control or shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. C: cytosolic fraction; N: nuclear fraction. (B–E) Quantification of the relative protein levels was shown for CaMKIIδ3 (B,C), CDK1 (D) and BDNF (E) in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of scramble shRNA control or shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. ****p < 0.0001, comparison between the blank control and DMSO groups in shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01 and ####p < 0.0001, comparison between DMSO+6-OHDA and blank control or DMSO groups in the scramble shRNA control/shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells; &p < 0.05, &&&&p < 0.0001, comparison between the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and DMSO+6-OHDA in the scramble shRNA control-transduced SH-SY5Y cells; $$$$p < 0.0001, comparison between the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA and blank control groups in the scramble shRNA control/shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells; ∧∧p < 0.01, ∧∧∧∧p < 0.0001, comparison of DMSO group between the scramble shRNA control and shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells; ++++p < 0.0001, comparison of the most optimal concentration of APα+6-OHDA between the scramble shRNA control and shRNA-CaMKIIδ3-transduced SH-SY5Y cells. NS, no significance.

Discussion

Our data have addressed that 6-OHDA decreased the number of SH-SY5Y differentiated TH-positive cells, as well as BrdU-positive cells and TH/BrdU-double positive cells following RA treatment. Moreover, SH-SY5Y cells incubated with 6-OHDA were more susceptible to develop short dendrites. Although some reports including our own studies indicated that 6-OHDA-induced loss of TH-positive neurons in the SN could promote the proliferation of lateral ventricle-subventricular zone-derived NPCs, it was still a kind of incomplete recovery of TH-positive neurons following 6-OHDA administration (Liechti et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2015; Xie et al., 2017). Therefore, some effective strategies should be developed in PD treatment, in particular, in the neuroprotection of TH-positive neurons.

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that the aging and chronic stress might induce a decrease in APα levels, which was associated with either the deficiency of neurological function or the neurodegenerative disorders (Baulieu et al., 2001; Weill-Engerer et al., 2002; Gago et al., 2004; Marx et al., 2006; Schumacher et al., 2007; Caruso et al., 2013; Hsu et al., 2015). Growing evidences have revealed that APα, as a potent regenerative agent, exerted pleiotropic actions including the analgesic, anesthetic, antidepressant and anxiolytic, as well as the neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects within CNS (Reddy and Rogawski, 2002; Wang et al., 2005, 2010; Melcangi et al., 2008), in particular, APα-exerted neuroprotection and anti-neurodegeneration promoted the neuronal survival and delayed the onset and severity of neurodegenerative pathology (Schumacher et al., 2003; Ciriza et al., 2004; Griffin et al., 2004; Brinton and Wang, 2006b). These data strongly support the idea that APα may be therapeutically promising against neurodegenerative diseases such as PD.

In the well-differentiated or mature neurons, some investigations indicated that the inhibitory functions of GABAARs have an allosteric enhancement when APα acts on GABAARs, leading to an increased chloride influx, causing the neuronal membrane hyperpolarization and dampening the neuronal excitability, by which APα might maintain the cellular inner environment constant and Ca2+ homeostasis, as well as reduce the neuronal cell excitotoxicity (Maksay et al., 2001; Liu et al., 2002; Belelli and Lambert, 2005; Frye and Walf, 2008; Carver and Reddy, 2013; Frye et al., 2014). Our results indicated that APα could partly alleviate the disturbance of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis induced by 6-OHDA. Radi et al. (2014) reported that 6-OHDA-induced neuronal cell death has been associated with the activation of apoptotic cascades. Our results also demonstrated that APα exerted the neuroprotective effects by promoting the cell viability and suppressing the apoptosis and necrosis of SH-SY5Y cells. Bic, a powerful GABAAR antagonist, could further increase APα-induced cell viability but have no effects on APα-ameliorated apoptosis and necrosis of SH-SY5Y cells. Some studies suggested that the neurodegeneration might result from the disturbance between the neurogenesis and neuronal cell loss (Wang and Xu, 2005; Winner et al., 2006). Even if there was lack of SN neurogenesis in the adult mammal animal, some results including our previous studies indicated that APα-induced a small amount of SNpc newborn TH-positive neurons might be involved in the regenerative process of 6-OHDA-induced depletion of dopaminergic neurons, nevertheless, APα induced an extremely rare increase in the newborn TH-positive cells (Höglinger et al., 2004; Yamada et al., 2004; Shan et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2015; Xie et al., 2017). These results were supported by other works, which demonstrated that the primary mesencephalic progenitor cells can be differentiated into functional TH-positive neurons in the presence of sonic hedgehog or after exposure to fibroblast growth factor (Matsuura et al., 2001; Yoshimi et al., 2005; Hermann et al., 2006). Moreover, APα-transiently-induced increases of intracellular calcium concentration were related to the proliferation of primarily cultured NPCs (Wang et al., 2005, 2010; Wang and Brinton, 2008). In our current results from SH-SY5Y cells, 6-OHDA treatment could dramatically decrease the number of newborn cells and their differentiation toward TH-positive cells, which was ameliorated by APα, although there was a low number of increase in the newborn TH-positive neurons. These studies indicated that APα-promoted an increase in the newborn TH-positive cells did not contribute too much to the recovery of TH-positive cells.

Some documents indicated that APα-exerted neuroprotective and anti-neurodegenerative effects in the early stage could affect the neurogenesis of NPCs in the late stage (Genazzani et al., 2004). In rats, Modol et al. (2014) reported that APα acting through GABAAR produced a shift from a depolarization during the early neurodevelopment to a hyperpolarization in the mature neurons in the second postnatal week. Indeed, APα exerts either a neurogenic effect or a selective action to prevent the neuronal death without promoting the cell proliferation, in which the differential modulation of GABAAR may probably be involved in the different effects of APα (Wang et al., 2005, 2010; Chen G. H. et al., 2011). Because the differentiated SH-SY5Y cells only accounted for 30–40% of total cells, we speculated that APα-exerted neurogenic effect became prominent in undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells when the inhibitory function of GABAARs was blocked by Bic (Bic prior to APα administrations). More importantly, because Bic alone could not improve the aforementioned indicators, in particular, Bic or Nifedipine alone could not significantly alter [Ca2+]i in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells, APα-induced a further increase in [Ca2+]i was mediated by VGLCC activation and a certain elevation in an influx of extracellular Ca2+ after GABAAR was blocked. In promoting the proliferation of NPCs, neuronal migration, synaptogenesis and hippocampal neurogenesis, APα could induce a significant alteration in GABAAR expression levels by activating many GABAAR subtypes including GABAAα1 and GABAARβ2 in the brain. Moreover, the action of APα has been shown to activate GABAAR-driven VGLCC and subsequent increases of intracellular Ca2+ concentration (Keller et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005, 2010; Wang and Brinton, 2008; Jagasia et al., 2009; Chen S. et al., 2011; Frye et al., 2014), which was in accordance with our current study. In addition, we also cannot rule out the possibility that APα interacts with the pregnane-X-receptor or membrane progesterone G-protein coupled receptor to regulate its neuroprotective process (Charalampopoulos et al., 2008; Mendell et al., 2018; Taleb et al., 2018). Mendell et al. (2018) also suggested a model for neurosteroid actions included both GABAAR-dependent and GABAAR-independent mechanisms. These existing controversies reflect not only the different concentrations of neurosteroids but also the specific cell culture conditions. In addition, the type of GABAAR antagonist and the composition of the GABAAR subunit contributed to these conflicting results (Carver and Reddy, 2013; Afroz et al., 2017; Mendell et al., 2018).

A study reported that 6-OHDA decreased the expression levels of calcium-related CaM and CaMKII, which in turn disturbed the neurite extension of dopaminergic neurons (Xi et al., 2016). APα prevented 6-OHDA-induced neuronal death possibly by upregulating the expressions of CaM and CaMKII (Schumacher et al., 2007; Xi et al., 2016). These results suggested the activation of calcium signaling-dependent CaM/CaMKII pathway might be involved in APα-induced survival of dopaminergic neurons following 6-OHDA damage. CaMKIIδ3, as one of CaMKII isoforms, was also located in the cerebral cortex and hippocampal dentate gyrus except for SN and the striatum, speculating that the disturbance of CaMKIIδ3 expression might affect the neurogenesis and pathophysiological process of PD (Takeuchi et al., 2002; Keller et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005; Kamata et al., 2006; Quiñones-Hinojosa et al., 2006; Zhao et al., 2008; Jagasia et al., 2009). Our results confirmed that 6-OHDA decreased the expression levels of CaM and CaMKIIδ3 in the cytosolic or nuclear fraction of SH-SY5Y cells, which was ameliorated or further increased following APα and/or Bic treatments. In addition, APα-induced CaM and CaMKIIδ3 expression levels in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells were significantly inhibited by EGTA or Nifedipine after GABAAR was antagonized by Bic. These results suggested that APα could further increase CaM and CaMKIIδ3 expression levels in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells because of extracellular Ca2+ influx through VGLCC after GABAAR was blocked by Bic. Lee et al. (2006) illustrated that the interference of extracellular Ca2+ influx or the blocking of calcium channels played an important role in neuroprotection and cell proliferation, which was in accordance with our current results.

Immunoprecipitation assay indicated that CaMKIIδ3 was mainly distributed in the nuclear, while its relatively low level was in the cytosolic fraction. In addition, the molecular inhibition of CaMKIIδ3 could attenuate BDNF and CDK1 expression levels of SH-SY5Y cells, as well as further inhibit APα-induced an increase in the expression levels of CaMKIIδ3, CDK1, and BDNF, suggesting that there existed a direct interaction between CaMKIIδ3 and BDNF or CDK1. As a neurotrophic factor, BDNF is initially synthesized as a precursor (ProBDNF), which is subsequently cleaved to form mature BDNF (mBDNF; Woo et al., 2005). Whether it is ProBDNF or mBDNF, they have been identified to be important for neuronal cell survival, neurogenesis and differentiation (Koshimizu et al., 2009), in particular, BDNF is reported to be a crucial neurotrophic factor required for the survival of dopaminergic neurons (Baquet et al., 2005; Baydyuk and Xu, 2014). A document reported that the aripiprazole significantly increased BDNF expression, which was concomitant with an increase in CaMKIIδ3 expression and cell viability of cultured dopaminergic neurons (Shioda et al., 2015). In addition, APα could significantly upregulate the expressions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and cell cycle regulatory proteins including CDK1 and CDC2 (Schulman et al., 2000; Tyers and Jorgensen, 2000). Another study reported that Cyclin E and D protein levels were moderately diminished in CaMKIIδ-deleted cells, possibly because CaMKIIδ activated and induced the transcription of Cyclin E and D (Bakiri et al., 2000; Gordon et al., 2009). Our results also indicated that 6-OHDA-induced reduction in p-CDC2, CDK1 and BDNF expression levels of SH-SY5Y cells could be reversed by APα and Bic administrations. These results further confirmed that APα-induced CaMKIIδ3 activation increased the expression levels of BDNF, CDK1, and p-CDC2, which in turn promoted the neuroprotective and proliferative effects of APα on 6-OHDA-damaged SH-SY5Y cells.

Conclusion

Our current results indicated that exogenous APα treatment can rescue 6-OHDA-induced damage in SH-SY5Y differentiated TH-positive neurons by GABAAR, depending on intracellular Ca2+ and VGLCC. In this process, GABAAR-Ca2+-CaM-CaMKIIδ3-BDNF (CDK1) signaling pathway is essential for APα-induced survival of SH-SY5Y cells, which thus provides a novel insight into the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie APα-treated neurodegenerative diseases.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.

Author Contributions

CS and MLia designed the research. TW, XY, WB and ZC performed the research. JD, MLi and PZ analyzed the data. CS wrote the article. Y-QD revised the article. SQ and HC checked the data.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declared that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.