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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, April 2006, p. 1213-1221, Vol. 50, No. 4
0066-4804/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.50.4.1213-1221.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Gentamicin Causes Apoptosis at Low Concentrations in Renal LLC-PK₁ Cells Subjected to Electroporation

Unité de Pharmacologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire,¹ Unité de Développement et Neurobiologie, Université Catholique de Louvain, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium²

Received 15 July 2005/ Returned for modification 20 November 2005/ Accepted 10 January 2006

Gentamicin accumulates in the lysosomes of kidney proximal tubular cells and causes apoptosis at clinically relevant doses. Gentamicin-induced apoptosis can be reproduced with cultured renal cells, but only at high extracellular concentrations (1 to 3 mM; 0.4 to 1.2 g/liter) because of its low level of uptake. We recently showed that gentamicin-induced apoptosis in LLC-PK₁ cells involves a rapid (2-h) permeabilization of lysosomes and activation of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis (10 h). We now examine whether the delivery of gentamicin to the cytosol by electroporation would sensitize LLC-PK₁ cells to apoptosis. Cells were subjected to eight pulses (1 ms) at 800 V/cm (square waves) in the presence of gentamicin (3 µM to 3 mM; 1.2 mg/liter to 1.2 g/liter); returned to gentamicin-free medium; and examined at 8 h for their Bax (a marker of mitochondrial pathway activation) contents by Western blotting and competitive reverse transcriptase PCR and at 24 h for apoptosis by 4',6'-diamidino-2'-phenylindole staining (confirmed by electron microscopy) and for necrosis (by determination of lactate dehydrogenase release). Nonelectroporated cells were incubated with gentamicin for 8 and 24 h. Significant increases in Bax levels (8 h) and apoptosis (24 h) were detected with 0.03 mM (13.2 mg/liter) gentamicin in electroporated cells compared with those achieved with 2 mM (928 mg/liter) in incubated cells. The increase in the Bax level was not associated with an increase in the level of its mRNA but was associated with the accumulation of ubiquitinated forms (probably as a result of impairment of its degradation by the proteasome). Assay of cell-associated gentamicin showed a marked, immediate, but transient accumulation in electroporated cells, whereas a slow, steady uptake was detected in incubated cells. The data indicate that cytosolic gentamicin triggers apoptosis. Sequestration of gentamicin in lysosomes would, to some extent, protect against apoptosis.

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