DJ-1/PARK7 inhibits high glucose-induced oxidative stress to prevent retinal pericyte apoptosis via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

DJ-1/PARK7 inhibits high glucose-induced oxidative stress to prevent retinal pericyte apoptosis via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Exp Eye Res. 2019 Oct 05;:107830 Authors: Zeng J, Zhao H, Chen B Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) act through multiple pathways to induce apoptosis of retinal capillary pericytes, which is an early marker for diabetic retinopathy and the primary cause of diabetic retinopathy disease progression. However, the specific molecular mechanisms behind ROS-induced retinal capillary pericyte loss in diabetic retinopathy remains elusive. Here, we investigate the molecular regulation and effects of DJ-1/PARK7 on oxidative stress and injury of rat retinal pericytes (RRPs). In our study, RRPs were isolated from rat retinal tissue and cultured with different concentration of glucose in the medium for 2 days: control group (5.6 mM glucose), high glucose group (30 mM glucose), hypertonic group (5.6 mM glucose + 24.4 mM mannitol). We found decreased expression of DJ-1 and increased apoptosis of RRPs in high glucose group. To further study the role of DJ-1, four groups were divided as follows: normal control group (5.6 mM glucose), high glucose (30 mM glucose), empty vector control group (pcDNA3.1,30 mM glucose),DJ-1 overexpression group (pcDNA3.1-myc-DJ-1,30 mM glucose). DJ-1,P53,p-P53, cleaved caspase-3, manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), catalase (CAT) and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in ea...
Source: Experimental Eye Research - Category: Opthalmology Authors: Tags: Exp Eye Res Source Type: research