ROS Mediated the Effects of Extracellular Calcium on Staurosporine-induced Cell Death in PC12 Cells

Recently we showed that staurosporine uses the extracellular calcium ions to affect on neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. However, these mechanisms during staurosporine-induced cell death are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the relation between of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and extracellular calcium entry during staurosporine-induced cell death in PC12 cells. The results showed that decrease or increase of extracellular calcium ions resulted in correspondingly significant increase in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i). At high extracellular Ca2+ concentration (0.5-0.7 mM) increase in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i), cells which was not prevented in the presence of IDB and GSH/EE, indicating its independence on ROS generation in treated cells. Another side, at low extracellular Ca2+ (0.-0.3 mM) was prevented in the presence of IDB and GSH/EE, indicating its dependence on ROS generation in treated cells. Thus, endogenous ROS generation and the rise in intracellular calcium by reducing extracellular calcium entry are important inter-players in staurosporine-induced cell death.