Changes of mitochondrial pathway in hypoxia/reoxygenation induced cardiomyocytes apoptosis

The role of mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in cardiomyocytes subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation(H/R) was studied. Cultured cardiomyocytes from neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to hyoxia/reoxygenation, the apoptotic cardiomyocytes were stained with Annexin-V-FITC, Hoechst 33342 and TUNEL assay. Mitochondrial transmembrane potential of cardiomyocytes was assessed by JC-1 under fluorescence microscope, the expressions of bcl-2, bax, cytochrome c, apoptosis-induced factor (AIF), and caspase-3 were tested by western-blot. Our data showed apoptosis of cardiomyocytes was significantly increased during H/R, accompanied by translocation of bax to mitochondria, release of cytochrome c and AIF to cytosol. The results indicate that the mitochondrial-mediated apoptotic pathway is initiated as a result of H/R.