MEDIUM TRANSITORY OXYGEN-GLUCOSE DEPRIVATION-INDUCED BOTH APOPTOSIS AND NECROSIS IN CEREBELLAR GRANULE CELLS

Recent experiments have shown that an ischemic insult can induce both necrosis and apoptosis. A series of experiments were designed to exami ne the potential induction of apoptosis by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in cerebellar granule cell culture. A medium OGD (90 min) induce d apoptosis in cell culture, with maximal effect 12 h after exposure, as indicated by following morphological (TdT-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling) and biochemical markers (DNA oligonucleosomal fragmenta tion). Mitochondrial injury (MTT assay) was among the early effects we detected during and after OGD and it was correlated with the dynamics of TUNEL positive cells. The amount of LDH release from damaged cells , associated with necrosis was increased significantly 12 h after expo sure. These results indicate that medium OGD induced a rapid (<12 h) m ixture of apoptosis and necrosis, followed by mainly secondary necrosi s. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.