17b-Estradiol abrogates apoptosis in murine skeletal muscle cells through estrogen receptors:: Role of the PI3K/Akt pathway

VASCONSUELO ANDREA; MILANESI LORENA,; BOLAND R

JOURNAL OF ENDOCRINOLOGY

BIOSCIENTIFICA LTD

Año: 2008 vol. 196 p. 385 - 397

0022-0795

Estrogens can regulate apoptosis in various cellular systems. The present study shows that 17â-estradiol (E2), at physiological concentrations, abrogates DNA damage, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage, and mitochondrial cytochrome c release induced by H2O2 or etoposide in mouse skeletal muscle C2C12 cells. This protective action, which involved PI3K/Akt activation and Bcl-2 associated death agonist (BAD) phosphorylation, was inhibited by antibodies against the estrogen receptor (ER) or â isoforms, or transfecting siRNA specific for each isoform. The inhibition of the antiapoptotic action of E2 at the mitochondrial level was more pronounced when ER-â was immunoneutralized or suppressed by mRNA silencing, whereas transfection of C2C12 cells with either ER- siRNA or ER-â siRNA blocked the activation of Akt by E2, suggesting differential involvement of ER isoforms depending on the step of the apoptotic/survival pathway evaluated. These results indicate that E2 exerts antiapoptotic effects in skeletal muscle cells which are mediated by ER-â and ER- and involve the PI3K/Akt pathway.