Journal Article

17beta-Estradiol protects against apoptosis induced by interleukin-1beta in rat nucleus pulposus cells by down-regulating MMP-3 and MMP-13

Yang, Si-dong, Feng, Shi-qing, Yang, Da-long, Sun, Ya-peng, Wang, Bao-lin, Ma, Lei, Ding, Wen-yuan

2015

Overview

In our previous study, 17[beta]-estradiol was proved to protect rat annulus fibrosus cells against apoptosis induced by interleukin-1[beta] (IL-1[beta]). However, whether 17[beta]-estradiol has protective effect on rat nucleus pulposus cells remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to further explore the effects of 17[beta]-estradiol on rat nucleus pulposus cells based on IL-1[beta]-induced apoptosis. TUNEL assay and Annexin V/PI double staining were used to detect apoptosis and revealed that IL-1[beta] induced notable apoptosis, which was reversed by 17[beta]-estradiol. Meanwhile, cell viability and binding ability were decreased by IL-1[beta], but activated caspase-3 was increased. However, all of the detected effects of IL-1[beta] were eliminated by 17[beta]-estradiol. Furthermore, real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to further find that IL-1[beta] downregulated expression level of type II collagen, aggrecan, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1, while upregulated matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3, MMP-13 and Bcl-2, which was further confirmed by western blot. Finally, 17[beta]-estradiol was proved to abolish the above negative effects of IL-1[beta]. In summary, this work presented that IL-1[beta] maybe induced apoptosis of rat nucleus pulposus cells, which was resisted by 17[beta]-estradiol by down-regulating MMP-3 and MMP-13 via a mitochondrial pathway. This research provides a novel insight into the anti-apoptotic effect of 17[beta]-estradiol on IL-1[beta]-induced cytotoxicity, and may potentially lead to a better understanding of the clinical effects of 17[beta]-estradiol, especially in terms of intervertebral disc degeneration.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Cytotoxicity