title: The in vitro antiapoptotic effect of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in mouse thymocytes and its relation to caspase-3/caspase-6.
abstract: The effects of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) on thymocyte apoptosis induced by dexamethasone (DEX) were investigated. Apoptosis was measured by using agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA, the terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay and flow cytometry. Our results showed that preincubation with 1 x 10(-4) M DHEAS protected thymocytes from DEX-induced apoptosis in vitro. Moreover, we found no blocking effect on the DEX-induced activation of caspase-3 and caspase-6 by the preincubation of thymocytes with DHEAS. This may be interpreted to mean that the antagonism of DHEAS to DEX-induced apoptosis is not related to the activation of these down-stream caspases which play a critical role in the execution of apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: X F
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: Y R
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D053148:Caspase 3; D053178:Caspase 6; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate; D003907:Dexamethasone; C505409:Casp3 protein, mouse; C505516:Casp6 protein, mouse; D053148:Caspase 3; D053178:Caspase 6; D020169:Caspases