FIGURE 1.
Amyloid peptide induces apoptosis in primary cultures of astrocytes, which is prevented by inhibition of caspases. A, incubation of wild type astrocytes with 40 μm Aβ25–35 or inverse control peptide Aβ35–25 for 24 h. Apoptotic cells were stained with TUNEL. B, quantification of apoptotic cells. Note that co-incubation with the cell-permeable pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK prevents Aβ25–35-induced apoptosis. n = 5; p < 0.01. *, comparison of control (0 μm) with 10 μm Aβ; **, comparison of 10 μm Aβ with 20 μm Aβ; ***, comparison of 20 μm Aβ with 40 μm Aβ. C, immunoblotting for cleaved (active) caspase 3 using protein from Aβ25–35-treated and control astrocytes.