Departament de Fisiologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Neurochem Int. 2010 Feb;56(3):443-50. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2009.12.001. Epub 2009 Dec 5.
The intraperitoneal administration of 3-nitropropionic acid, which is commonly used to induce toxicity models of Huntington's disease in experimental animals, produces severe brain injury in the lateral part of the striatum. We studied the presence of active caspase-3 in neurons and astrocytes from brains of rats treated with 3-nitropropionic acid following a subacute administration protocol. Active caspase-3 was almost absent in the core of the striatal lesion. However, it was expressed, albeit weakly, in the neurons present in the rim of the lesion. In cortex and non-injured striatal areas, and in the cortex and striatum of control animals, active caspase-3 staining was widely distributed and vivid, but localized in the cell bodies of astrocytes rather than in neurons. In treated animals, some of the active caspase-3 positive neurons localized in the rim of the lesion were also positive for TUNEL staining. This indicates the presence of a caspase-mediated apoptotic process. TUNEL was not present in control animals or in the astrocytes of treated animals. Thus, the presence of active caspase-3 in astrocytes may be merely constitutive.
3-硝基丙酸（3-Nitropropionic acid）被广泛用于诱导实验动物亨廷顿病的毒性模型，经腹腔给药后会导致纹状体外侧部严重脑损伤。我们研究了亚急性给药方案下 3-硝基丙酸处理的大鼠脑内神经元和星形胶质细胞中活性半胱天冬酶-3（active caspase-3）的存在情况。活性半胱天冬酶-3在纹状体损伤核心几乎不存在，但在损伤边缘的神经元中表达较弱。在皮质和未受损的纹状体区域，以及对照动物的皮质和纹状体中，活性半胱天冬酶-3染色广泛分布且鲜明，但定位于星形胶质细胞的细胞体，而不是神经元。在处理过的动物中，损伤边缘定位于某些活性半胱天冬酶-3阳性神经元的 TUNEL 染色也呈阳性。这表明存在半胱天冬酶介导的凋亡过程。对照动物或处理过的动物的星形胶质细胞中不存在 TUNEL。因此，星形胶质细胞中活性半胱天冬酶-3的存在可能只是组成性的。
