Inhibition of mitochondrial calcium uniporter protects neurocytes from ischemia/reperfusion injury via the inhibition of excessive mitophagy

Mitophagy plays an important role in mitochondrial quality control and cell survival during the process of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) is the most important channel responsible for Ca2+ influx into mitochondria and Ca2+ signal plays a potential role in modulating mitophagy. However, the effect of MCU on mitophagy during the process of I/R injury remains unknown. This study constructed an in vitro I/R model by subjecting oxygen and glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/RP) model to SH-SY5Y cells to mimic the cerebral I/R injury and aimed to explore the exact effect of MCU on I/R induced mitophagy. The results showed that OGD/RP induced autophagy and mitophagy in SH-SY5Y cells. Ru360, the inhibitor of MCU, improved mitochondrial morphology and fuctional stability as well as cell viability, significantly reduced OGD/RP induced mitophagy as evidenced by the decrease in Beclin-1 and the increase in Tom20 and P62 expression. Whereas spermine, the agonist of MCU, had no significant impact on the expression of those mitophagy related proteins compared with OGD/RP group. This study indicates that inhibition of MCU can inhibit excessive mitophagy and protect the neurocytes from I/R injury.