Cell culture and treatment
The H9c2 cardiac myoblast cell line was purchased from Cell Bank of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China), and cultured in high‑glucose Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS, Gibco; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA), in a 5% CO2 incubator at 37˚C. After cells grow to 70‑80% confluence, H9c2 cells were exposed to hypoxia (1% O2, 94% N2 and 5% CO2) for 4 h, followed by reoxygenation for 4, 8, 12 or 16 h. The control group was incubated in normoxic conditions (5% atmosphere and 5% CO2) at 37˚C.
Cell transfection
To knockdown TNC, H9c2 cells were transfected with TNC siRNAs and negative control (NC) siRNAs (GenePharma, Shanghai, China). The cDNA of TLR4 was inserted into the pcDNA3.1 expression vector to construct TLR4 overexpressing plasmids (pcDNA-TLR4). H9c2 cells were seeded into 6‑well plates (5 × 105 cells/well) and cultured with complete medium. The next day, subconfluent (50–60%) cells were replaced with DMEM with 0.1%PBS, and were transfected with siRNA-TNC (siTNC) or vectors overexpressing TLR4 using Lipofectamine Reagent (Life Technologies, NY, USA). After 48 h, the transfection efficacy was confirmed by RT-qPCR or western blot.
Cell viability assay
For cell viability assay, H9c2 cells were seeded in a 96-well plate (5 × 103 cells/well). After 18 h of various treatments, cells were incubated with CCK-8 solution (10 µL) for each well, and then kept at 37˚C for 2 h. The absorbance at 450 nm was measured using a microplate reader.
lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay
The damaged cardiomyocytes release LDH into extracellular fluid, and LDH content was measured to evaluate cell injury. Culture medium was collected after 18 h of various treatments, and the concentration of LDH was determined by spectrophotometry using an LDH assay kit (Jiancheng, Nanjing, China).
Measurement of caspase-3 activity
Caspase-3 activity was determined by colorimetric assay using a commercialized assay kit (Biovision, Inc.). H9c2 cells were harvested and lysed,followed by centrifugation at 10000 g for 10 min at 4 ℃. The supernatant (30 µL) was incubated with synthetic peptide substrate Ac-DEVD-pNA (10 µL, 0.2 mM, Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) at 37 °C for 2 h. Caspase-3 activity was evaluated by measuring optical absorbance at 405 nm in a spectrophotometer.
TUNEL Assay
H9c2 cells were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS at room temperature for 1 h, and after washing with PBS solution, cells were blocked by 3% H2O2 in 100% methanol for 10 min at room temperature. Samples were then incubated with permeabilization solution (0.1% Triton X-100 in 0.1% sodium citrate) on ice for 2 min. Cells were added with TUNEL reagent at 37 °C in the dark for 1 h. Cells were then washed with PBS, and incubated with DAPI solution for 30 min at room temperature in the dark. Finally, the cells were observed under fluorescence microscope (detection range: 515–565 nm). The number of TUNEL + cell were counted and normalized to that of total cells (DAPI + cells).
Determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)
After 18 h of various treatments, cells were harvested and lysed by ultrasonic pyrolysis. After centrifuged at 3000 × g for 10 min at 4˚C, the supernatant was collected and incubated with detection working fluid for MDA (Cat. No. A003-1, Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute, Nanjing, China) or superoxide dismutase (SOD; Cat. No. A001-1) at 37˚C for 15 min. Then the reaction mixture was used to measure absorbance values at 532 nm (MDA) or 520 nm (SOD) by a microplate reader. All experiments were repeated three times independently.
Measurement of pro-inflammatory cytokines
After 18 h of various treatments, supernatant was collected and ELISA assay was performed to measure the IL-6 level by a ELISA test kit (Cat. No. R6000B, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA). The concentrations of IL-6 in each group was determined based on the standard curve, and experiments were repeated three times independently.
Real-time PCR
Total RNA was extracted using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen). Reverse transcription was performed to obtain cDNA from RNA template, using Superscript II reverse transcriptase (Toyobo Life Science, Osaka, Japan). Real-time PCR was carried out by SYBR Premix Ex Taq (Takara Bio, Japan) using an Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Real‑Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems; Foster City, CA, USA). PCR primers included: Tenascin-C sense (5'‑GCT CTC CTA TGG CAT CAA GG‑3') and Tenascin-C antisense (5'‑TCA TGT GTG AGG TCG ATG GT‑3'); IL-6 sense (5'‑AGT TGC CTT CTT GGG ACT GA‑3') and IL-6 antisense (5'‑ACT GGT CTG TTG TGG GTG GT‑3'); TLR4 sense (5'‑AGC CAT TGC TGC CAA CAT CA‑3') and TLR4 antisense (5'‑GCC AGA GCT ACT CAG AAA C‑3'); GAPDH sense (5'‑CCT CTA TGC CAA CAC AGT GC‑3') and GAPDH antisense (5'‑GTA CTC CTG CTT GCT GAT CC‑3'). The conditions for real-time PCR were as follows: denaturation at 94 ˚C for 5 min, then amplified by 40 cycles at 94˚C for 15 s and 58˚C for 30 s. The 2-ΔΔCt method was used to determine the relative mRNA levels.
Total (TNC, TLR4), cytoplasmic (I-κBα) and nuclear (NF-κB p65) proteins were extracted from H9c2 using RIPA lysis buffer, cytoplasmic and Nuclear Extraction Reagents (Pierce Biotechnology, Inc., Rockford, IL. USA). and quantified by BCA protein assay kit (Beyotime Biotechnology, China). Protein samples (50 µg) were separated on 10% SDS-PAGE gel and to transferred onto PVDF membranes. Membranes were then incubated with primary antibodies against TNC (1:200, ab233198, Abcam, UK), TLR4 (1:1000, Cell Signaling, USA), NF-κB p65 (1:500, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, USA), and I-κBα (1:500, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, USA) overnight at 4 °C. The blots were washed and incubated with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody. The proteins were detected using chemiluminescent detection system (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA), and analyzed using ImageJ software.
Statistical Analysis
Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation, and were analyzed by SPSS 20.0 software (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the differences among multiple groups, followed by Bonferroni-test. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.