title: Hypoxia-induced apoptosis in adult rat dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro.
abstract: Following spinal root injury, dorsal root ganglia suffer mechanical trauma and compromised blood supply. Little is known about the consequences for neuronal survival. Here we used cyanide treatment in vitro to examine effects of moderate hypoxia on adult rat dorsal root ganglion cells identified by GAP-43 immunostaining. 400 microM-4 mM cyanide caused sustained increases in intracellular Ca2+. Cyanide at 2 mM led to a significant increase in apoptosis, detected using TUNEL labelling and confirmed by ultrastructural analysis, and a further increase when cultures were left overnight in fresh medium. Our study shows that dorsal root ganglion neurons die by apoptosis following hypoxia and that cell death increases over time. Cyanide response provides a simple assay for testing neuroprotective agents and examining underlying mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Centre, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK. w.huang@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Priestley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D012966:Sodium Cyanide / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D012966:Sodium Cyanide