The notion that the cell death machinery is utilized during lens organelle degradation is supported by the observation that well characterized apoptotic substrates are cleaved during this process. Here, we test directly the role of executioner caspases (caspase-3, -6, and -7) in fiber cell differentiation. The distribution of mRNA, protein, and enzymatic activity for each caspase was determined...

Every day, billions of human cells terminate their normal activities and launch intrinsic suicide pathways. Timely cell death is orchestrated by destructive functions encoded by dying cells, such as caspase proteases in the case of apoptotic or pyroptotic cell death. Caspases cleave specific intracellular substrates to kill and dismantle cells destined for elimination, and their dysregulation l...

Neutrophils play a prominent role in host defense. Phagocytosis of bacteria leads to the formation of an active NADPH oxidase complex that generates reactive oxygen species for bactericidal purposes. A critical step in the resolution of inflammation is the uptake of neutrophils by macrophages; however, there are conflicting reports on the mechanisms leading to the apoptosis of phagocytic neutro...

Activation of caspases represents one of the earliest biochemical indicators for apoptotic cell death. Therefore, measurement of caspase activity is a widely used and generally accepted method to determine apoptosis in a wide range of in vivo and in vitro settings. Numerous publications characterize the role of the heme-catabolizing enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in regulating apoptotic process...

Studies of the biochemical mechanisms evoked by conventional treatments for neoplastic diseases point to apoptosis as a key process for elimination of unwanted cells. Although the pathways through which chemotherapeutics promote cell death remain largely unknown, caspase proteases play a central role in the induction of apoptosis in response to a variety of stimuli including tumor necrosis fact...

Aberrant activation of caspase-6 has recently emerged as a major contributor to the pathogeneses of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Huntington disease. Commercially available assays to measure caspase-6 activity commonly use the VEID peptide as a substrate. However these methods are not well suited to specifically assess caspase-6 activity in the presence of other, confoundi...

Aminoglycoside exposure results in the apoptotic destruction of auditory and vestibular hair cells. This ototoxic hair cell death is prevented by broad-spectrum caspase inhibition. We have used in situ substrate detection, immunohistochemistry, and specific caspase inhibitors to determine which caspases are activated in the hair cells of the adult mouse utricle in response to neomycin exposure ...

Aquaporins (AQPs) have been found to be associated with a number of diseases. However, the role of AQP‑1 in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis remains unclear. We previously found that AQP‑1 expression was upregulated in osteoarthritic cartilage and strongly correlated with caspase‑3 expression and activity. The aim of this study was to further investigate the association of AQP‑1 expression wi...

AIM The aim of this work was to assess caspase-3 activity in the tissue of papillary thyroid carcinomas of patients and analyze the peculiarities of changes in this activity depending upon a number of pathomorphological and clinical features of tumoral process. METHODS Caspase-3 activity was determined by spectrophotometry with regard to acetyl-asp-glu-val-asp-paranitroanilide. RESULTS At i...

The study was aimed at exploring the mechanism of tenderization by establishing a correlation between caspase-3 activity and shear force, verifying the activation occurring by analyzing active caspase-3 and cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) fragments, and understanding the pathways involved in activation of caspase-3 by evaluating its correlation with caspase-8 and -9 activities in LM...