APOPTOSIS IN NEURONAL CELLS - ROLE OF CASPASES

APOPTOSIS is a controlled form of cell death involving cascades of deg radative events. Proteolysis during apoptosis is largely due to the ac tivity of a family of cysteine proteases called caspases. In recent ye ars different roles for members of this family have been revealed. In the central nervous system caspase-2 is highly expressed in the brain during development although many caspases are expressed at low levels in the adult. However, an involvement of caspases in apoptosis of matu re neurons has been demonstrated in vivo, where specific inhibitors of caspases are found to protect against ischemic injury. We have review ed the evidence for the existence of caspases in the central nervous s ystem and their activation during neuronal cell death. Neuro Report 9: R49-R55 (C) 1998 Rapid Science Ltd.