title: Apoptotic outer hair cell death in the cochleae of aging Fischer 344/NHsd rats.
abstract: Apoptotic cell death has been implicated in cochlear degeneration during aging. To better understand the impact and the biological process of outer hair cell (OHC) apoptosis, we investigated the contribution of apoptotic cell death to the formation of the OHC lesions, and observed the temporal patterns of the occurrence of apoptotic events associated with the mitochondrial pathway in Fischer 344/NHsd rats, with ages ranging from 20 to 27 months. The results showed that the ratio of apoptotic to necrotic OHCs was 8:1. During the process of cell degeneration, the onset of Bax expression, cytochrome c release, and nuclear DNA fragmentation preceded the onset of nuclear condensation. In contrast, the activation of caspases-3 and -9, as well as the degradation of F-actin, took place after the onset of nuclear condensation. The results of this study suggest that the initiation of nuclear degradation is a caspase-3-independent process. Moreover, the study revealed that OHCs with Bax expression or cytochrome c release could enter either the apoptotic or necrotic pathway, suggesting the presence of a regulatory mechanism that guides degenerating OHCs to die via either the apoptotic or necrotic pathway.
authors.affiliation: Center for Hearing and Deafness, State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA. bhu@acsu.buffalo.edu
authors.forename: Bo Hua
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Wei-Ping
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Eric C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Bielefeld
authors.forename: Manna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guang-Di
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D045304:Cytochromes c / Q000378:metabolism; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D018072:Hair Cells, Auditory, Outer / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D009336:Necrosis; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; C494828:Bax protein, rat; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D045304:Cytochromes c; C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3
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