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Cytosolic labile zinc: a marker for apoptosis in the developing rat brain
Author(s) -
Lee JooYong,
Hwang Jung Jin,
Park MiHa,
Koh JaeYoung
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04553.x
Subject(s) - tunel assay , apoptosis , programmed cell death , terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase , staurosporine , biology , cytosol , microbiology and biotechnology , neun , biochemistry , immunohistochemistry , kinase , immunology , protein kinase a , enzyme
Cytosolic zinc accumulation was thought to occur specifically in neuronal death (necrosis) following acute injury. However, a recent study demonstrated that zinc accumulation also occurs in adult rat neurons undergoing apoptosis following target ablation, and in vitro experiments have shown that zinc accumulation may play a causal role in various forms of apoptosis. Here, we examined whether intraneuronal zinc accumulation occurs in central neurons undergoing apoptosis during development. Embryonic and newborn Sprague–Dawley rat brains were double‐stained for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP‐biotin nick end labelling (TUNEL) detection of apoptosis and immunohistochemical detection of stage‐specific neuronal markers, such as nestin, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), TuJ1 and neuronal nuclear specific protein (NeuN). The results revealed that apoptotic cell death occurred in neurons of diverse stages (neural stem cells, and dividing, young and adult neurons) throughout the brain during the embryonic and early postnatal periods. Further staining of brain sections with acid fuchsin or zinc‐specific fluorescent dyes showed that all of the apoptotic neurons were acidophilic and contained labile zinc in their cell bodies. Cytosolic zinc accumulation was also observed in cultured cortical neurons undergoing staurosporine‐ or sodium nitroprusside (SNP)‐induced apoptosis. In contrast, zinc chelation with CaEDTA or N , N , N ′, N ′‐tetrakis(2‐pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPEN) reduced SNP‐induced apoptosis but not staurosporine‐induced apoptosis, indicating that cytosolic zinc accumulation does not play a causal role in all forms of apoptosis. Finally, the specific cytosolic zinc accumulation may have a practical application as a relatively simple marker for neurons undergoing developmental apoptosis.