Injury effect of adenosine triphosphate on N9 microglia

AIM:To investigate the injury effect of adenosine triphosphate(ATP) on N9 microglia. METHODS:N9 microglia in logarithmic growth phase was randomly divided into 3 groups. In control group, the cells were cultured without ATP treatment. In ATP group, the cells were treatment with ATP after cultured for 24 h. In KN-62 intervention group, after pretreatment with KN-62 for 30 min, ATP was added in the cells. The cell viability was assessed by XTT assay. Cellular morphological changes were observed under phase-contrast microscope. The cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. The expression of P2X₇ receptor was examined by immunofluorescence staining. The protein levels of P2X₇ receptor were measured by Western blotting. The concentration of IL-1β in the culture supernatant was detected by ELISA. RESULTS:ATP at dose of 500 μmol/L and 1 mmol/L only caused small damage to the cell viability of N9 microglia. The cell viability was 88.5%±5.5% and 88.2%±8.4% after treated with ATP for 24 h,respectively. The cell viability dropped rapidly and cell shrinkage occurred when the concentration of ATP increased to 2 mmol/L or higher. With the extension of experiment time, the cell viability and cell density decreased further and cell shrinkage was getting worse. KN-62 intervention improved the viability of N9 microglia injured by ATP. The morphology and density of N9 microglia in KN-62 intervention group were much better than those in ATP group. ATP arrested N9 microglia at S phase and increased cell apoptosis significantly(P<0.01 vs control group). KN-62 intervention obviously relieved the cell cycle arrest and decreased the cell apoptosis caused by ATP(P<0.01). ATP and KN-62 intervention had no effect on the distribution of P2X₇ receptor. The protein levels of P2X₇ receptor had no significant difference among the 3 groups(P>0.05). ATP and KN-62 intervention had no effect on the release of IL-1β. CONCLUSION:High dose of ATP damages N9 microglia and its mechanism may be related to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis mediated by P2X₇ receptor but not to inflammatory response caused by microglia.