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Monitoring Cleaved Caspase-3 Activity and Apoptosis of Immortalized Oligodendroglial Cells using Live-cell Imaging and Cleaveable Fluorogenic-dye Substrates Following Potassium-induced Membrane Depolarization
10:45

Monitoring Cleaved Caspase-3 Activity and Apoptosis of Immortalized Oligodendroglial Cells using Live-cell Imaging and Cleaveable Fluorogenic-dye Substrates Following Potassium-induced Membrane Depolarization

Published on: January 13, 2012

UNC5A promotes neuronal apoptosis during spinal cord development independent of netrin-1

Megan E Williams1, Xiaowei Lu, William L McKenna

  • 1Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.

Nature Neuroscience
|July 11, 2006
PubMed

Insights

UNC5 proteins induce apoptosis and regulate neuronal cell death. Loss of Unc5a in mice reduced apoptosis, increasing spinal cord neurons, while netrin-1 loss had no effect.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cell Biology
  • Developmental Biology

Background:

  • UNC5 proteins are known netrin-1 receptors and can induce apoptosis in cultured cells.
  • The in vivo role of UNC5 proteins in mediating neuronal apoptosis remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the in vivo role of UNC5 proteins in neuronal apoptosis and spinal cord development.
  • To determine if netrin-1 is required for in vivo neuronal apoptosis.

Main Methods:

  • Generation and analysis of Unc5a knockout mice.
  • Assessment of apoptosis levels in the spinal cord.
  • Analysis of neuronal counts in the spinal cord.

Main Results:

  • Deletion of Unc5a significantly decreased apoptosis in the spinal cord.
  • Loss of Unc5a resulted in an increased number of neurons in the spinal cord.
  • Loss of netrin-1 (Ntn1) did not alter the level of apoptosis in vivo.

Conclusions:

  • UNC5 proteins, specifically Unc5a, play a crucial role in mediating in vivo neuronal apoptosis.
  • Netrin-1 is not essential for in vivo neuronal apoptosis, despite its role as a UNC5 receptor.
  • Unc5a-mediated apoptosis is a key mechanism regulating neuronal numbers in the developing spinal cord.

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