hypoxia research::blog

Abstract
Maintenance of oxygen supply to meet demand is an essence for patient management in operation theaters and intensive care units. Hypoxia (reduced oxygen availability) induces a series of adaptive physiological responses including gene inductions. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a master transcription factor regulating hypoxia-induced gene expression to maintain homeostasis in living body. We previously reported the effects of the volatile anesthetic halothane, the intravenous anesthetic propofol, and the local anesthetics on the HIF-1 activation. Opioids are potent analgesic agents, which are widely used in clinical fields. Therefore, we investigated the effect of opioids on the HIF-1 activity. SH-SY5Y human neuronal cells, which express opioid receptors intrinsically, are cultured under 1% or 20% O2 conditions with or without treatment by either of DAGO, DPDPE, and U-50488, which are the selective agonists of μ-, δ-, and κ-opioid receptors, respectively. Expression of subunits of HIF-1, HIF-1α and HIF-1β, were examined by Western blot using the specific antibodies. Expression of mRNA of HIF-1 and the HIF-1-dependent gene were investigated by reporter assay. Neither of the selective agonists of opioid receptors tested affected the HIF-1 activation by hypoxia. The selective agonists of opioid receptors do not affect the HIF-1-dependent cellular hypoxia-induced gene responses.