Knockdown of ALK7 inhibits high glucose-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Knockdown of ALK7 inhibits high glucose-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in retinal pigment epithelial cells. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2019 Oct 14;: Authors: Shi Q, Dong X, Zhang M, Cheng Y, Pei C Abstract Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the diabetic complications associated with hyperglycemia-mediated oxidative stress. Activin receptor-like kinase 7 (ALK7) has been proven to be a potential therapeutic approach for diabetic cardiomyopathy, which is another diabetic complication. However, the role of ALK7 in DR remains unclear. In the current study, ALK7 was found to be up-regulated in clinical samples from DR patients and high glucose (HG)-induced human retinal pigment epithelial cells (ARPE-19). In vitro studies demonstrated that knockdown of ALK7 in ARPE-19 cells through transfection with siRNA-ALK7 (si-ALK7) improved cell viability in HG-induced ARPE-19 cells. Knockdown of ALK7 suppressed HG-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, as well elevated the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH) in ARPE-19 cells. The number of apoptotic cells was significantly decreased after transfection with si-ALK7. Besides, ALK7 knockdown caused significant decrease in bax expression and increase in bcl-2 expression in HG-induced ARPE-19 cells. In addition, ALK7 knockdown resulted in remarkable increase in the expressions of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and heme ox...
Source: Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol Source Type: research