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Volume 17, Number 23,
Issue of December 1, 1997
pp. 9172-9182
Apoptosis-Suppressor Gene bcl-2 Expression after
Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats
Received June 18, 1997; revised Aug. 15, 1997; accepted Sept. 22, 1997.
Robert S. B. Clark1, 2,
Jun Chen3,
Simon C. Watkins4,
Patrick M. Kochanek1, 2,
Minzhi Chen1,
R. Anne Stetler3,
J. Eric Loeffert4, and
Steven H. Graham3, 5
Departments of 1 Anesthesiology and Critical Care
Medicine, 2 Pediatrics, 3 Neurology, and
4 Cell Biology and Physiology, and the Safar Center for
Resuscitation Research and the Brain Trauma Research Center, University
of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, and
5 Neurology Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical
Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
Neuronal death after experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI) has
features of both apoptosis and necrosis. Neurons in the peritrauma
cortex, hippocampus, and dentate gyrus are particularly vulnerable. The
apoptosis-suppressor gene bcl-2 is induced in brain
after ischemia and epilepsy-induced injury and may serve to regulate
neuronal death. We studied expression of bcl-2 mRNA and
protein after experimental TBI in rats. To determine whether bcl-2
protein expression occurred in cells with evidence of apoptosis, triple-labeling studies were performed using (1) antibody against bcl-2, (2) bis-benzimide dye to examine gross nuclear morphology, and
(3) terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotin-dUTP nick-end
labeling (TUNEL) to assess for DNA fragmentation. At 6 and 24 hr,
bcl-2 mRNA was induced in ipsilateral peritrauma cortex,
hippocampus, and dentate gyrus. By 72 hr the increase in
bcl-2 mRNA was detected only in cortex. bcl-2 protein
was induced at 8, 24, 72, and 168 hr in ipsilateral cortex and
hippocampus. Cells expressing bcl-2 protein included neurons in the
peritrauma cortex, hippocampus, hilus, and dentate gyrus. The gross
nuclear morphology of neurons expressing bcl-2 appeared normal.
Furthermore, biochemical evidence of DNA fragmentation, in a pattern
characteristic of either apoptosis or necrosis, was seldom seen in
neurons expressing bcl-2 protein (bcl-2 colocalized with TUNEL in
0-2% of TUNEL-positive cells observed). These data suggest that bcl-2
may play an important role in the regulation of neuronal death after
TBI, and they support a role for bcl-2 as an inducible
neuroprotective gene.
Key words:
apoptosis;
bcl-2;
hippocampus;
neuron;
rat;
traumatic
brain injury
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