Persistent mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress hinder neuronal cell recovery from reversible proteasome inhibition

Oxidative stress, proteasome impairment and mitochondrial dysfunction are implicated as contributors to ageing and neurodegeneration. Using mouse neuronal cells, we showed previously that the reversible proteasome inhibitor, [N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Ile-Glu (O-t-bytul)-Ala-leucinal; (PSI)] induced excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) that mediated mitochondrial damage and a caspase-independent cell death. Herein, we examined whether this insult persists in neuronal cells recovering from inhibitor removal over time. Recovery from proteasome inhibition showed a time and dose-dependent cell death that was accompanied by ROS overproduction, caspase activation and mitochondrial membrane permeabilization with the subcellular relocalizations of the proapoptotic proteins, Bax, cytochrome c and the apoptosis inducing factor (AIF). Caspase inhibition failed to promote survival indicating that cell death was caspase-independent. Treatments with the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) were needed to promote survival in cell recovering from mild proteasome inhibition while overexpression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL together with NAC attenuated cell death during recovery from potent inhibition. Whereas inhibitor removal increased proteasome function, cells recovering from potent proteasome inhibition showed excessive levels of ubiquitinated proteins that required the presence of NAC for their removal. Collectively, these results suggest that the oxidative stress and mitochondrial inhibition induced by proteasome inhibition persists to influence neuronal cell survival when proteasome function is restored.