Detection of pro‐caspase‐3 in cytosol and mitochondria of various tissues

FEBS Letters

Zhivotovsky, Boris¹  Orrenius, Sten¹  Jones, Dean P¹  Samali, Afshin¹ 

[1] Institute of Environmental Medicine, Division of Toxicology, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, S-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

关键词: Apoptosis;    Caspase;    Mitochondria;    Rat;    Tissue;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(98)00740-6

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases of critical importance in the apoptotic cell death process. They are normally present as zymogens (pro-caspases) in the cytoplasm of vertebrate and other organisms. In this study we have shown that pro-caspase-3 is localized to cytosol and mitochondria of various rat tissues (brain, heart, kidney, liver, spleen and thymus). Although the majority of pro-caspase-3 was localized in the cytosol, the amount of mitochondrial pro-caspase-3 was significant. The ratio of cytosolic and mitochondrial pools of pro-caspase-3 appeared to vary between different tissues. The higher amount of mitochondrial pro-caspase-3 was found in thymus and spleen, i.e. tissues in which spontaneous apoptosis plays an important role. Our findings provide further support for mitochondrial localization of pro-caspase-3 and the critical role of this organelle in apoptosis.

【 授权许可】

Unknown