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Updated: Oct 5, 2026

Strategies for Tracking Anastasis, A Cell Survival Phenomenon that Reverses Apoptosis
Published on: February 16, 2015
Disruption of focal adhesions mediates detachment during neuronal apoptosis
A Lesay1, J A Hickman, R M Gibson
1School of Biological Sciences, 1.124 Stopford Building, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
Abstract:
Apoptosis participates in the development of the nervous system and in neurodegeneration. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms of detachment of neuronal cells from the extracellular matrix (ECM) during apoptosis. Detachment of Ntera2 neuronal cells was accompanied by decreased surface expression of the beta1 integrin and redistribution of proteins from focal adhesions (FA). FA proteins were cleaved in a discrete sequence: p130cas, then paxillin, then talin. Caspase inhibition prevented detachment and cleavage of paxillin and p130cas, whilst calpain inhibition blocked talin cleavage. Neuronal cells therefore detach as a result of redistribution and caspase-dependent cleavage of focal adhesion proteins. Cleavage occurs sequentially such that critical ECM-integrin survival signalling cascades are severed before disruption of focal adhesion-cytoskeletal links.
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