6-Hydroxydopamine-induced Adaptive Increase in GSH Is Dependent on Reactive Oxygen Species and Ca²⁺ but not on Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinase in SK-N-SH Human Neuroblastoma Cells

We examined the signaling molecules involved in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced neuronal cell death and increase in cellular glutathione (GSH) level in SK-N-SH cells. The 6-OH-DA-induced cell death was significantly prevented by the pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a thiol antioxidant, and BAPTA, an intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ chelator. Although 6-OHDA induced ERK phosphorylation, the pretreatment with PD98059, an ERK inhibitor, did not block 6-OHDA-induced cell death. In addition, the 6-OHDA-induced activation of caspase-3, a key signal for apoptosis, was blocked by the pretreatment with NAC and BAPTA. While the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was significantly increased in the 6-OHDA-treated cells, the cellular GSH level was not altered for the first 6-hr exposure to 6-OHDA, but after then, the level was significantly increased, which was also blocked by the pretreatment with NAC and BAPTA, but not by PD98059. Depletion of GSH by pretreating the cells with DL-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO), a glutathione synthesis inhibitor, rather significantly potentiated the 6-OHDA-induced death. In contrast to the pretreatment with NAC, 6-OHDA-induced cell death was not prevented by the post-treatment with NAC 30 min after 6-OHDA treatment. The results indicate that the GSH level which is increased adaptively by the 6-OHDA-induced ROS and intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ is not enough to overcome the death signal mediated through ROS-$Ca^{2+}$ -caspase pathway.