Cell culture
PC12 cells were purchased from the cell bank of the Chinese Academy of Science (Shanghai, China), and were cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM)/F12 medium (Gibco Company, U.S.) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Hyclone Company, USA). Then, cells were grown at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere that contained 5% CO2.
Oxygen Glucose Deprivation And Reoxygenation (Ogd/r)
In vitro, ischemia-reperfusion injury was simulated by oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion injury generally. As in previous research, a glucose-free balanced salt solution(BSS) containing 130 mM NaCl, 5.4 mM KCl, 1.8 mM CaCl2, 26 mM NaHCO3, 0.8 mM MgCl2, and 1.18 mM NaH2PO4 were used to incubate PC12 cells instead of normal DMEM medium. PC12 cells were equilibrated with a continuous flux of gas (95% N2/5% CO2) for 10 min using an anaerobic
chamber (PLAS & LABS, MI, USA), next, they were humidified at 37 ℃ for 2–6 h. Then, PC12 cells after OGD were incubated with DMEM medium with 10 mM glucose and 10% fetal bovine serum, and were reoxygenated in an incubator (74% N2/21% O2/5% CO2) at 33℃, 35℃ or 37℃ for 12 h or 24 h. The control groups cells were treated with normal medium in the condition of 74% N2/21% O2/5% CO2 at 37℃.
Cell Activity Assay
Cell viability was assessed by cell counting Kit-8(CCK-8). As shown below, the cells of PC12 was seeded into 96-well plates at 1×104 cells/well, next day, cells in 96-well plates were treated with OGD/R 6h, OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (33℃for 12h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (33℃for 24h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (35℃for 12h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (35℃for 24h) respectively. Lastly, the cells of every well added 10 µl CCK-8 and detected optical density (OD) value after 2 hours and a Multiskan Ascent microplate photometer (EnSpire 2300 Multilabel Reader, PE, USA) was performed to determine absorbance of the solution at 450 nm.
Lactic Acid Dehydrogenase (Ldh) Assay
The LDH release assay kit was used to detect injury of PC12 cells. According to the manufacturer's protocol, 50 µl of the culture liquid groups of control, OGD/R 6h, OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (33℃for 12h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (33℃for 24h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (35℃for 12h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (35℃for 24h) was removed for the detection of extracellular LDH activity, the absorbance of the formazan was detected at 490 nm using a reader (EnSpire 2300 Multilabel Reader, PE, USA).
Intracellular Ros Detection
The level of ROS of PC12 cells after OGD/R and MH was detected using ROS assay kit (Beyotime, Beijing, China). After treatment of PC cells according to the product instructions, cells were incubated for 20 min at 37℃ in dark and were analyzed by the flow cytometer (America Becton Dickinson Company).
Flow Cytometry
The apoptotic rate of PC12 was measured using Annexin V-APC/7-AAD double staining kit (Keygen Biotechnology, Nanjing, china). Briefly different groups of cells treated with control, OGD/R 6h, OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (33℃for 12h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (33℃for 24h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (35℃for 12h), OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia (35℃for 24h) were dealt with the above kits according to protocol. Lastly, the analysis of stained cells was performed using the flow cytometer (America Becton Dickinson Company).
Transmission Electron Microscopy
PC2 cells were collected after treating with different groups, then, washing with PBS before fixed in 3% glutaraldehyde at 4°C overnight. Subsequently, cells were fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide for 1 h. After embedding in Epon resin, uranyl acetate and lead citrate were performed to stain sections. Finally, the transmission electron microscope JEM-2010HR (Electronics Co. Ltd, Japan) was used to observe samples.
Immunofluorescence
The mitochondrial membrane potential was measured by JC-1 fluorescent probe (Beyotime Biotechnology, Jiangsu, China). Succinctly, PC12 of control, OGD/R 6h, OGD/R 6h + mild hypothermia(33℃for 24h) were harvested and incubated at 37℃ with JC-1 staining solution (5mg/ml) for 20 min. Following, the red fluorescence intensity of JC-1 aggregates (excitation wavelength: 525nm and emission wavelength: 590nm) and green intensity of JC-1 monomers (excitation wavelength: 490nm and emission wavelength: 530nm) were exported by FACScan flow Cytometry. Lastly, the FlowJo software version 9.3.2 (TOMY Digital Biology) was performed to detect the relative ratio of red to green fluorescent intensity and the proportion of mitochondrial depolarization.
Western Blot Analysis
Firstly, the total proteins were extracted with RIPA buffer (Beyotime, Shanghai, China) after treating with different groups. Cyt-C was extracted using Cell Mitochondria Isolation Kit (Beyotime, Shanghai, China). Secondly, SDS-PAGE was used to separate proteins, next, proteins would be transferred onto a PVDF membrane (EMD Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA) and blocked with 5% non-fat milk. Thirdly, the membrane was incubated with primary antibody at 4℃overnight, primary antibody of Bad (#9239), Bcl-2 (#4223S), Cyt-C (#4280S), caspase-3 (#9664S), γH2AX (#9718S), PCNA (#13110S), GAPDH (#5174S)( all Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., Danvers, MA, USA) and Rad51 (#133534, Abcam, UK) was diluted by primary antibody dilution buffer (Beyotime)(1:1000), in addition, it was incubated with anti-rabbit IgG HRP-linked antibody(Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., Danvers, MA, USA) for 1hour at room temperature. Lastly, the Image J software (NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA) was used to analyze densitometry on immunoblots.
Statistical analysis
All the data analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 8.0 software (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA, USA). Unpaired Student’s t-test analysis was used to determine the significance. *p and ∆ p < 0.05, **p and ∆ ∆ p < 0.01, ***p and ∆ ∆ ∆ p < 0.001 were considered statistically significant. All experiments were performed in triplicate. Data were expressed as the means ± standard deviation.