2. Academic Validation
  3. Curcumin protects retinal neuronal cells against oxidative stress-induced damage by regulating mitochondrial dynamics

Curcumin protects retinal neuronal cells against oxidative stress-induced damage by regulating mitochondrial dynamics

  • Exp Eye Res. 2022 Sep 5;224:109239. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2022.109239.
Dan Xu 1,  Kun Zhang 2,  Xin-Hui Qu 3,  Tao Wang 4,  Ping Yang 3,  Yun Yang 3,  Li-Ping Jiang 5,  Yu-Ying Wan 6,  Fang-Fang Tou 4,  Zhi-Ping Chen 7,  Xiao-Jian Han 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Geriatrics, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China; Research Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China; Department of Ophthalmology, Southern Medical University Pingxiang Hospital, Pingxiang, Jiangxi, 337000, PR China.
  • 2 Institute of Geriatrics, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China; Research Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China.
  • 3 Institute of Geriatrics, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China; Department of Neurology, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China.
  • 4 Institute of Geriatrics, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China.
  • 5 Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China.
  • 6 Department of Intra-hospital Infection Management, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China.
  • 7 Department of Critical Care Medicine, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 8 Institute of Geriatrics, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China; Department of Neurology, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China; Research Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 36067824 DOI: 10.1016/j.exer.2022.109239
Abstract

Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the damage of retinal neuronal cells. Curcumin, the phytocompound, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties. It was shown that curcumin exerted a beneficial effect on retinal neuronal cell survival. However, the role of mitochondrial dynamics in curcumin-mediated protective effect on retinal neuronal cells remains to be elucidated. Here, H2O2 was used to mimic the oxidative stress in retinal neuronal R28 cells. Drp1 and Mfn2 are key regulators of mitochondrial fission and fusion. 100 μM of H2O2 significantly increased the cleavage of Caspase-3 and Drp1 expression, but downregulated the expression of Mfn2. Pretreatment with 5 μM curcumin effectively alleviated H2O2-induced alterations in the expression of Drp1 and Mfn2 and mitochondrial fission in R28 cells. In addition, curcumin and Drp1 knockdown prevented H2O2-induced intracellular ROS increment and mitochondrial membrane potential disruption. On the contrary, knockdown of Mfn2 diminished curcumin-mediated protection against ROS increment and mitochondrial membrane potential disruption after H2O2. Moreover, curcumin protected R28 cells against H2O2-induced PINK1 expression, Mitophagy, Caspase-3 cleavage and Apoptosis. Knockdown of Mfn2 significantly alleviated the protective effect of curcumin on R28 cells after H2O2. Taken together, our data indicate that curcumin protects against oxidative stress-induced injury in retinal neuronal cells by promoting mitochondrial fusion.

Keywords

Apoptosis; Curcumin; Mitochondrial dynamics; Oxidative stress; Retinal neurons.

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