title: Participation of caspase-3-like protease in oxidation-induced impairment of erythrocyte membrane properties.
abstract: Erythrocytes are very susceptible to oxidative stress, having a high content of intracellular oxygen and hemoglobin. In the present study, exposure to oxidative stress resulted in a significant impairment of erythrocyte membrane functions, such as deformability and anion exchange. Band 3 protein, also known as anion exchanger-1, plays an important role in these two functions. We show that oxidative stress activated caspase-3 inside the erythrocytes, which resulted in band 3 protein cleavage. Interestingly, inhibition of the caspase-3 with its specific inhibitor not only suppressed the digestion of band 3 protein, but also blunted the functional damage to erythrocytes, such as deformability and anion exchange, without changing the level of peroxidation of membrane lipids. These results provide experimental evidence that activation of caspase-3 plays an important role in the oxidative stress-induced impairment of membrane functions of erythrocytes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime University, Toon, Ehime, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Nobutaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohkubo
authors.forename: Mamoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aoto
authors.forename: Nobuji
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cicha
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mitsuda
mesh_terms: D001457:Anion Exchange Protein 1, Erythrocyte / Q000378:metabolism; D000838:Anions; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D017136:Ion Transport; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D018384:Oxidative Stress
chemical_list: D001457:Anion Exchange Protein 1, Erythrocyte; D000838:Anions; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D053148:Caspase 3