a The conditional immortalized ACS-5003 neurons were transiently transfected with either RORA full length (pRORA-2000) or deletion reporter plasmids. After 24 h, the cells were treated with either 5 mM low glucose (LG) or 25 mM high glucose (HG) for 3 days and the relative RORA reporter activities were calculated n = 5. *, P < 0.05, vs. pRORA-2000 group. b The schematic picture for the potential transcriptional binding motif in the range of −300 to 200 (from transcription start site) on the RORA promoter with two potential Oct binding sites marked in red as well as related mutation sites marked in green. c The cells were transiently transfected by either a wild-type RORA reporter construct (pRORA-2000) or single point mutation at the site shown in (b), and then treated with either LG or HG for 3 days, and the RORA reporter activities were calculated n = 5. *, P < 0.05, vs. pRORA-2000 group. d The cells were transiently transfected by RORA full length (pRORA-2000), single mutant, or double mutations as indicated, or infected by SOD2 lentivirus (↑SOD2), and then treated with either LG or HG for 3 days; the RORA reporter activities were then calculated, n = 5. *, P < 0.0001, vs. pRORA-2000/LG group; ¶, P < 0.001, vs. pRORA-2000/HG group. e, f Cells were treated by either 4-day LG plus 4-day LG (LG(4d)+LG(4d)), or 4-day HG plus 4-day LG (HG(4d)+LG(4d)), or infected on day 4 by SOD2 lentivirus (HG(4d)+LG(4d)/↑SOD2); the cells were then used for ChIP analysis: e ChIP analysis by potential transcription factors on the RORA promoter, n = 4; f ChIP analysis by potential histone methylation, n = 4. *, P < 0.0001, vs. LG(4d)+LG(4d)/CTL group. g–i Cells were treated by either LG(4d)+LG(4d)/CTL or HG(4d)+LG(4d)/CTL, or the cells were infected on day 4 by either Oct3/4 expression lentivirus (HG(4d)+LG(4d)/↑Oct3/4) or Oct3/4 knockdown lentivirus (LG(4d)+LG(4d)/shOct3/4); the cells were then harvested for biomedical analysis: g mRNA analysis, n = 4. h Protein quantitation, n = 5. i Representative western blotting pictures for (h). *, P < 0.0001, vs. LG(4d)+LG(4d)/CTL group. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM.