MPP-DEATH IN SH-SY5Y NEUROBLASTOMA-CELLS - AN ELECTRON-MICROSCOPE STUDY( INDUCED APOPTOTIC CELL)

PD is a common, late-onset neurodegenerative disorder that results in part from the gradual loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia n igra pars compacta, The neurotoxin MPTP can induce PD-like clinical sy mptomatology and neuropathological destruction and, thus, has been use d as a PD model, The human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y possesses m any of the qualities of human neurons and, as such, has served as a mo del for them, Apoptosis is the mode of cell death induced in SH-SY5Y c ells by MPTP, and this was confirmed with nick end labeling and bisben zimide staining, Transmission electron microscopic analysis of the ult rastructural changes occurring in neurotoxin exposed SH-SY5Ys revealed many morphological characteristics consistent with apoptosis, These c hanges included plasmalemmal blebbing, altered cytosolic density, nucl ear condensation and fragmentation, pronounced vacuole formation, ribo somal dispersion, and the disappearance of the golgi complex, microtub ules, and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, Limited amounts of rough endop lasmic reticulum and mitochondria exhibited normal morphology througho ut the apoptotic changes but then were disrupted during secondary necr otic changes. The in vitro induction of apoptosis by a parkinsonism ne urotoxin might be reflective of the mechanisms of in vivo nigral degen eration occurring during PD. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.