NADPH diaphorase-containing striatal or cortical neurons are resistant to apoptosis

Neurobiology of Disease
M I BehrensD W Choi

Abstract

The small subpopulation of striatal neurons containing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d, recently identified as nitric oxide synthase, NOS) is selectively spared in Huntington's disease. Previous search for pathogenic mechanisms capable of destroying striatal neurons but sparing NADPH-d(+) cells has identified only NMDA receptor-mediated excitotoxicity. In view of suggestions that neuronal death in Huntington's disease may occur by apoptosis, we examined the vulnerability of NADPH-d(+) neurons to apoptosis. Murine striatal or cortical cultures exposed to serum deprivation developed extensive neuronal apoptosis, but NADPH-d(+) neurons were relatively spared. This sparing was seen when cultures were exposed to several other apoptosis-inducing insults. It was not seen after toxic exposure to H2O2, and it was not blocked by NOS inhibition. The selective resistance of NADPH-d(+) neurons to several forms of apoptosis provides key support for the possibility that apoptosis may contribute to the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease.

Citations

Jun 8, 2006·Acta Neuropathologica·Vassilis E KoliatsosJulie A Schneider
Jul 1, 1997·Reviews in the Neurosciences·M DragunowR L Faull
May 31, 2016·Neuropathology : Official Journal of the Japanese Society of Neuropathology·Marco Aurelio M FreireWalace Gomes-Leal
Jun 2, 2021·Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis : JTH·Eugénie GarnierSara Martinez de Lizarrondo

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis