title: Roles of p53, c-Myc, Bcl-2, Bax and caspases in serum deprivation-induced neuronal apoptosis: a possible neuroprotective mechanism of basic fibroblast growth factor.
abstract: Using flow cytometric analysis, we examined the temporal changes of p53, c-Myc, Bcl-2, Bax expression in rat primary cortex neurons after serum deprivation. Activities of caspase-1 and caspase-3 were also measured. Serum deprivation induced apoptosis accompanied by a rapid down-regulation of p53, Bcl-2 and an up-regulation of c-Myc, Bax and caspase-3 activity. Pretreatment with basic fibroblast growth factor prevented the apoptosis with an attenuation of the changes of p53, Bcl-2, Bax levels and caspase-3 activity but had no effect on the change of c-Myc level. These results suggest that serum deprivation induces apoptosis through a signaling pathway involving p53, Bcl-2, Bax, c-Myc and caspase-3. The effect of the basic fibroblast growth factor against apoptosis may result from its capability of blocking the apoptosis cascade.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: X Z
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D020169:Caspases / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000502:physiology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000502:physiology*; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000502:physiology*; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein
chemical_list: C494828:Bax protein, rat; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D020169:Caspases