ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To investigate whether quinolinic acid(QA)induces autophagy in PC12 cells and its relationship with glycogen synthase kinase-3β(GSK-3β)/β-catenin related signaling path?ways. METHODS PC12 cells were treated with QA 2.5,5.0 and 10.0 mmol·L-1 for 24 h. The cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Autophagy fluorescent spots labelled form of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3)was examined by LC3 immunostaining. The expressions of GSK-3β,β-catenin,LC3 and Beclin 1 were determined by Western blotting. RESULTS QA inhibited PC12 cell survival in a concentration-dependent manner,and IC50 was 8.7 mmol · L- 1. Compared with normal control group,QA 2.5,5.0 and 10.0 mmol · L-1 increased autophagic intracellular LC3 fluorescence spots,elevated the expression ratio of LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ and expression of Beclin 1 in PC12 cells(P<0.05). In addition,QA enhanced GSK-3βexpression and decreasedβ-catenin expression(P<0.05,P<0.01). CONCLUSION QA induces autophagy in PC12 cells. This mechanism may be associated with the activation of GSK-3β/β-catenin related signaling pathways.