1-methyl-4-phenyl-pyridinium ion (MPP+) causes DNA fragmentation and increases the Bcl-2 expression in human neuroblastoma, SH-SY5Y cells, through different mechanisms.

Apoptosis has been shown to be induced by some pathological stimuli. MPP+ is a neurotoxin and an inducer of parkinsonism. When SH-SY5Y cells, human neuroblastoma cell line, were treated with MPP+, cell death estimated by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage assay occurred. The cell death was associated with the DNA fragmentation into nucleosomal fragments at 180 bp, suggesting that MPP(+)-induced cell death of SH-SY5Y cells occurs through apoptosis. Although SH-SY5Y cells natively express Bcl-2 protein, which inhibits apoptosis, the level of Bcl-2 protein in SH-SY5Y cells increased with increases in the treatment periods of MPP+. MPP+ inhibits the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The other inhibitors of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, antimycin A and oligomycin, also caused cell death associated with DNA fragmentation, but did not increase the Bcl-2 protein level, suggesting that an MPP(+)-induced apoptosis may be due to the inhibition of the mitochondrial respiratory chain but the MPP(+)-induced increase in the Bcl-2 protein level is not due to it. A protein kinase inhibitor, staurosporine, inhibited the MPP(+)-induced increase in the Bcl-2 protein level, but not the MPP(+)-induced cell death. These results also suggest that the mechanism by which MPP+ increases the Bcl-2 protein level is different from that of MPP(+)-induced cell death.