DEVELOPMENT OF NONINVASIVE METHODS TO STUDY CELL-DEATH

A novel non-invasive marker to monitor apoptosis in the living cell is presented. A human neuroblastoma cell line expressing an integral nuc lear pore membrane protein tagged with GFP (green fluorescent protein) has been established, which enables monitoring of the nuclear envelop e dynamics in intact cell cultures by fluorescence microscopy. During apoptosis, but not during necrosis, the GFP fluorescence around the nu clear rim disappears at a stage preceding nucleosomal DNA fragmentatio n. This phenomenon can thus be used as an early and convenient marker to specifically diagnose apoptotic development in cell cultures. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science Ltd. A rights reserved.