Exogenous zinc protects cardiac cells from reperfusion injury by targeting mitochondrial permeability transition pore through inactivation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β

The purpose of this study was to determine whether exogenous zinc prevents cardiac reperfusion injury by targeting the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) via glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3 beta). The treatment of cardiac H9c2 cells with ZnCl2 (10 mu M) in the presence of zinc ionophore pyrithione for 20 min significantly enhanced GSK-3 beta phosphorylation at Ser9, indicating that exogenous zinc can inactivate GSK-3 beta in H9c2 cells. The effect of zinc on GSK-3 beta activity was blocked by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY-294002 but not by the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor rapamycin or the PKC inhibitor chelerythrine, implying that PI3K but not mTOR or PKC accounts for the action of zinc. In support of this interpretation, zinc induced a significant increase in Akt but not mTOR phosphorylation. Further experiments found that zinc also increased mitochondrial GSK-3 beta phosphorylation. This may indicate an involvement of the mitochondria in the action of zinc. The effect of zinc on mitochondrial GSK-3 beta phosphorylation was not altered by the mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K+ channel blocker 5-hydroxydecanoic acid. Zinc applied at reperfusion reduced cell death in cells subjected to simulated ischemia/reperfusion, indicating that zinc can prevent reperfusion injury. However, zinc was not able to exert protection in cells transfected with the constitutively active GSK-3 beta (GSK-3 beta-S9A-HA) mutant, suggesting that zinc prevents reperfusion injury by inactivating GSK-3 beta. Cells transfected with the catalytically inactive GSK-3 beta (GSK-3 beta-KM-HA) also revealed a significant decrease in cell death, strongly supporting the essential role of GSK-3 beta inactivation in cardioprotection. Moreover, zinc prevented oxidant-induced mPTP opening through the inhibition of GSK-3 beta. Taken together, these data suggest that zinc prevents reperfusion injury by modulating the mPTP opening through the inactivation of GSK-3 beta. The PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is responsible for the inactivation of GSK-3 beta by zinc.