Role of NF-κB in protection of EPO pretreatment on neonatal rat cardiac myocytes with hypoxia/reoxygenation injury

Objective：To observe the protective effects of erythropoietin （EPO） pretreatment on cardiac myocyte with hypoxia/reoxygenation （H/R） injury and the role of NF-κBin this effects. Methods：After the H/R model of cardiac myocytes of neonatal rats was established, the cultured cardiac myocytes were divided into 4 groups, including EPO pretreatment group （ EPO 10 U/ml 24 h before H/R）, EPO pretreatment ＋ PDTC group（EPO 10 U/ml and PDTC 5 μg/ml 24 h before H/R）, PDTC group （PDTC 5 μg /ml 24 h before H/R） and eomrolgroup. Before and after the H/R, assay of LDH concentration in the culture medium, the survival rate of the myocytes tested by MTT chromatometry and the apoptosis by flow cytometry were undertaken. Activation of NF-κB was determined by EMSA before and after H/R. Results：EPO pretreatment markedly reduced the LDH concentration in the medium, elevated the survival rate of myocytes and inhibited the apoptosis after H/R. Addition of PDTC during the pretreatment abol- ished the protective effects of EPO pretreatment. NF-κB was markedly activated during EPO pretreatment and PDTCinhibited the activation. However, after H/R, the activity of NF-κB in myocytes with EPO pretreatment was significantly inhibited compared to the other myocytes. Conclusion：NF-κB is significantly activated during EPO pretreatment, but is inhibited after H/R, which is correlated with the protective effects of EPO pretreatment on cardiac myocytes with H/R. This phenomenon can be explained as the negative feedback mechanism of the activation of NF-κB.