The role of NOS-mediated ROS accumulation in an early phase Cu-induced acute cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cells

• Published in: Biometals 2015-02, Vol.28 (1), p.113-122
• Main Authors: Zhong, Lingying, Wang, Lumei, Xu, Lurong, Liu, Qunlu, Jiang, Linlei, Zhi, Yuee, Lu, Wei, Zhou, Pei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetylcysteine - metabolism; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Arginine - metabolism; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Cell Line, Tumor; Copper; Copper - toxicity; Cytotoxicity; Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-2 - metabolism; Exposure; Free radicals; Humans; Life Sciences; MCF-7 Cells; Medicine/Public Health; Microbiology; Nitric oxide; Nitric Oxide Synthase - metabolism; Oxidative stress; Pathways; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Phosphorylation; Phosphorylation - drug effects; Plant Physiology; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Scavengers; Stresses
• ISSN: 0966-0844; 1572-8773
• DOI: 10.1007/s10534-014-9807-7

Copper (Cu) ion is essential for the biological systems, however, high level of CuCl 2 exposure causes detrimental effects, which leads to cell apoptosis. Nitric oxide (NO) is an efficient cell signal messenger, which plays an important role in cell apoptosis. However, the potential mechanism of an early phase Cu-induced acute cytotoxicity through the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) signaling pathway and its interaction has not been studied. In this report, we provide data showing that high level of CuCl 2 could rapidly decrease the NO production with the release of Ca 2+ and Zn 2+ , and then modulate the transcriptional and translational expression of NOSs in MCF-7 cells. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in cells was increased after high level of CuCl 2 exposure, which led to the alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 phosphorylation. By using the free radical scavenger N -acetyl- l -cysteine or the NOS substrate l -arginine, it demonstrated that NOS played a critical role on the Cu-induced ROS generation, which further led to the oxidative stress and cell apoptosis. These results suggested that Cu-induced apoptosis was associated with the oxidative stress, and through the NOS-mediated signaling pathway.