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Measuring Caspase Activity Using a Fluorometric Assay or Flow Cytometry
Published on: March 24, 2023
Some natural flavonoids are competitive inhibitors of Caspase-1, -3 and -7 despite their cellular toxicity
J Brandon White1, Jeremy Beckford, Sina Yadegarynia
1Department of Biological Sciences, San José State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0100.
Abstract:
A common feature of both apoptosis and inflammation is the activation of caspases. Caspases are aspartate-directed cysteine proteases that have numerous cellular targets. It has been discovered that several flavonoids are inhibitors of caspases. Flavonoids are members of a family of polyphenolic compounds from plants that have many biological properties, one of which is the ability to induce cell death. Some flavonoids are selective inhibitors of particular caspases. Since some of the inhibitory flavonoids are nevertheless cytotoxic, these results suggest that flavonoid-induced cell death may be occurring through a non-classical apoptosis pathway that is not dependent on caspase activity.
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