OBJECTIVETo study whether necroptosis exists or not in neural cell death induced by aluminum.

METHODSSH-SY5Y cells were treated with 4 mmol/L AlCl(3) x 6H(2)O The cell viability was determined with CCK-8 kit after treated with Nec-1 at different dosages (0, 30, 60, 90 micromol/L). Mitochondria membrane potential (MMP), content of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and apoptotic rate/necrotic rates were measured with cytometry.

RESULTSNec-1 ameliorated the necrotic-like cell morphology, the cell viability were 0.28 +/- 0.05, 0.58 +/- 0.03, 0.68 +/- 0.04, and 1.03 +/- 0.17, there were significant differences between the Nec-1 treated groups and that of controls (t values were 3.25, 3.36, 4.56; P < 0.05). After Nec-1 treatment, the necrotic rates were 16.46% +/- 0.54%, 10.40% +/- 0.64%, 5.43% +/- 0.68%, and 6.28% +/- 0.35%, there were significant differences between the Nec-1 treated cells and that of controls (t values were 3.62, 7.32, 6.96; P < 0.05); while the apoptotic rates were 8.68 +/- 0.36, 7.66 +/- 0.53, 5.68 +/- 0.41, and 4.13 +/- 0.41, there was no significant difference among the groups (F = 6.33, P = 0.11). Cytometry had shown the increased cell MMPs after Nec-1 treatment, which were 67.54 +/- 6.36, 49.42 +/- 5.96, 84.79 +/- 6.86, and 95.51 +/- 7.01, there were significant differences as comparing MMPs of the middle and high dosage of Nec-1 treated cells with those of controls (t values were 3.21, 4.01; P < 0.05); while ROS contents in the Nec-1 treated SH-SY5Y cells were 54.07 +/- 3.32, 52.79 +/- 2.36, 54.68 +/- 1.91, and 59.23 +/- 2.96, there was no significant difference among the groups (F = 5.26, P = 0.19).

CONCLUSIONNec-1, as a specific inhibitor of necroptosis, might effectively block the cell death pathway induced by aluminum, it indicates that necroptosis should be one of the major causes of the SH-SY5Y cell toxicity induced by aluminum, and necroptosis also plays an important role in aluminum induced SH-SY5Y cell death.