Integration of transcriptomic and proteomic analyses reveals protective mechanisms of N-acetylcysteine in indomethacin-stimulated enterocytes

Intestinal health is critical for the growth and development of humans and animals. Our previous study has demonstrated that indomethacin (IDMT) could induce intestinal injury in piglets, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) supplementation contributed to alleviating intestinal injury induced by various stimuli. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of IDMT-induced cell death in IPEC-1 cell lines and explored the role of NAC by using transcriptomic and proteomic analyses. Results showed that cell viability was substantially reduced with the increasing concentrations of IDMT, whereas NAC significantly increased the survival rate of IPEC-1 cells regardless of its addition method. Transcriptomics and proteomics data indicated that terms, such as cell cycle, energy metabolism, and cell proliferation, were significantly enriched by Gene ontology and pathway analyses. Flow cytometer analysis showed that IDMT induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. The expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins (CDK1, CCNA2, and CDC45) was decreased by IDMT stimulation. Importantly, NAC treatment repaired IDMT-induced mitochondrial dysfunction by increasing ATP production, decreasing oxygen consumption rate in non-mitochondrial O