Effect of Staurosporine in the Morphology and Viability of Cerebellar Astrocytes: Role of Reactive Oxygen Species and NADPH Oxidase

Cell death implies morphological changes that may contribute to the progression of this process. In astrocytes, the mechanisms involving the cytoskeletal changes during cell death are not well explored. Although NADPH oxidase (NOX) has been described as being a critical factor in the production of ROS, not much information is available about the participation of NOX-derived ROS in the cell death of astrocytes and their role in the alterations of the cytoskeleton during the death of astrocytes. In this study, we have evaluated the participation of ROS in the death of cultured cerebellar astrocytes using staurosporine (St) as death inductor. We found that astrocytes express NOX1, NOX2, and NOX4. Also, St induced an early ROS production and NOX activation that participate in the death of astrocytes. These findings suggest that ROS produced by St is generated through NOX1 and NOX4. Finally, we showed that the reorganization of tubulin and actin induced by St is ROS independent and that St did not change the level of expression of these cytoskeletal proteins. We conclude that ROS produced by a NOX is required for cell death in astrocytes, but not for the morphological alterations induced by St.