Effect of nicotine against apoptosis of rat cortical neurons induced by colchicines

AIM:To explore the mechanism of nicotine against the apoptosis induced by colchicines in rat cortical neurons. METHODS:Cortical neurons were cultured from newborn Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (less than 12 h). The rate of apoptosis was measured by Hoechst33258 fluorescence staining in the neurons, and the activity of Akt473 was analyzed by assay kit Akt473. RESULTS:The apoptosis of cortical neurons can be induced by 0.1 μmol/L colchicine. The phosphorlation of Akt 473 decreased significantly (1/3 times of the control group, P<0.01). However, when cortical neurons pretreated with 10 μmol/L nicotine for 2 h were cultured with 0.1 μmol/L colchicine for 24 h, the rate of apoptosis decreased from 62% to 38%. The phosphorlation of Akt473 increased significantly in a bell-shape time-dependent manner, which was respectively 1.3, 3.7, 2.4, 2.1 and 1.9 times compared with the control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION:By activating the signal pathway of Akt473, nicotine may attenuate the apoptosis of cortical neurons induced by colchicines.