A plasmid for
cytoglobin expression, pAcGFP1-C1-cytoglobin, was transfected into SH-SY5Y cells.
Cobalt chloride was used to establish a model of
hypoxia. Western blotting indicated that
cytoglobin was overexpressed and there was low expression of
hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in SH-SY5Y cells after transfection. Following
cobalt chloride-induced
hypoxia,
cytoglobin and
hypoxia-inducible factor-1α expression gradually increased in SH-SY5Y cells. Flow cytometry showed that with increasing duration of
hypoxia, the proportion of normal cells significantly diminished in the transfected and non-transfected groups. The proportion of cells in the early stages of apoptosis increased. However, the proportion of apoptotic cells was significantly lower in the transfected group compared with the non-transfected group. These results demonstrate that
cytoglobin and
hypoxia-inducible factor-1α are strongly up-regulated by
hypoxia, and that there is a strong relationship between
hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and
cytoglobin during hypoxic injury.