Protective effect of C(60) -methionine derivate on lead-exposed human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.

Oxidative stress has been considered as one of the possible mechanisms leading to the neurotoxicity of lead. One of the effective ways to prevent cellular damage after lead exposure is using antioxidants. In this paper, a novel C(60) -methionine derivate (FMD), a fullerene molecule modified with methionine, was synthesized. The protective effect of FMD on lead-exposed human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells was investigated. In this research, after incubating with 500 µm Pb acetate alone for 72 h, the cells had undergone a series of biological changes including viability loss, apoptotic death, the depletion of glutathione (GSH), the peroxidation of membrane lipid and DNA damage. Pretreatment with FMD before lead exposure could improve cell survival, increase the GSH level, reduce malondialdehyde content and attenuate DNA damage without obvious toxicity. In addition, the protective effects of FMD were proven to be greater than those of other two C(60) -amino acid derivates, β-alanine C(60) derivate and cystine C(60) derivate, which have been confirmed in our previous work to be able to protect rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells from hydrogen dioxide-induced oxidative injuries. These observations suggest that FMD may serve as a potential antioxidative and neuroprotective agent in the prevention of lead intoxication.