Slomiany B L, Piotrowski J, Piotrowski E, Slomiany A
Research Center, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark 07103-2400, USA.
Biochem Mol Biol Int. 1998 Sep;45(6):1199-209. doi: 10.1080/15216549800203432.
Apoptosis, the process of programmed cell death, involves activation of caspase proteases cascade that remains under the regulatory control of nitric oxide. In this study, we investigated the activity of a key apoptotic protease, caspase-3, and the expression of nitric oxide synthase-2 (NOS-2) associated with buccal epithelial cells apoptosis induced by chronic ethanol diet. The assays revealed that a 7.9-fold enhancement in buccal epithelial cells apoptosis, observed in the alcohol diet group, was accompanied by a 37.6-fold increase in caspase-3 activity and a 10.1-fold increase in NOS-2. Furthermore, the expression of NOS-2 showed a positive correlation (r = 0.92) with the extent of changes induced in caspase-3 activity. These results implicate caspase-3 in the process of alcohol-induced epithelial cells apoptosis, and point towards participation of NOS-2 in the amplification of the cell death signaling cascade.
细胞凋亡是程序性细胞死亡的过程，涉及半胱天冬酶蛋白酶级联反应的激活，而该级联反应处于一氧化氮的调控之下。在本研究中，我们调查了关键凋亡蛋白酶半胱天冬酶-3的活性以及与慢性乙醇饮食诱导的颊上皮细胞凋亡相关的一氧化氮合酶-2（NOS-2）的表达。检测结果显示，在酒精饮食组中观察到颊上皮细胞凋亡增强了7.9倍，同时半胱天冬酶-3活性增加了37.6倍，NOS-2增加了10.1倍。此外，NOS-2的表达与半胱天冬酶-3活性诱导的变化程度呈正相关（r = 0.92）。这些结果表明半胱天冬酶-3参与了酒精诱导的上皮细胞凋亡过程，并表明NOS-2参与了细胞死亡信号级联反应的放大。
