Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu khoa học ngành y học tạp chí Medical Sciences dành cho các bạn sinh viên ngành y tham khảo đề tài: Upregulation of Bax and Bcl-2 following prenatal cocaine exposure induces apoptosis in fetal rat brain. | Int. J. Med. Sci. 2008 5 295 International Journal of Medical Sciences ISSN 1449-1907 2008 5 6 295-302 Ivyspring International Publisher. All rights reserved Research Paper Upregulation of Bax and Bcl-2 following prenatal cocaine exposure induces apoptosis in fetal rat brain DaLiao XiaoH and Lubo Zhang Center for Perinatal Biology Department of Physiology and Pharmacology Loma Linda University School of Medicine Loma Linda California 92350 USA H Correspondence to DaLiao Xiao PhD Center for Perinatal Biology Department of Physiology and Pharmacology Loma Linda University School of Medicine Loma Linda CA 92350. Tel 909-558-4325 Fax 909-558-4029 Email Dxiao@ Received Accepted Published Cocaine abuse during pregnancy has been associated with numerous adverse perinatal outcomes. Aims The present study was to determine whether prenatal cocaine exposure induced apoptosis and the possible role of Bcl-2 family genes in the programming cell death in fetal rat brain. Main methods Pregnant rats were treated with cocaine subcutaneously 30 60 mg kg day from day 15 to 21 of gestation. Then the fetal and maternal brains were isolated. Key findings Cocaine produced a dose-dependent decrease in fetal brain weight and brain body weight ratio P . Apoptotic nuclei in fetal brain were increased from control to low dose and high dose P . In accordance cocaine dose dependently increased activities of caspase-3 caspase-8 and caspase-9 of control in the fetal brain by 177 155 174 respectively at 30 mg kg day and by 191 176 274 respectively at 60 mg kg day. In contrast cocaine showed no effect on caspase activities in the maternal brain. Cocaine produced a dose-dependent increase in both Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression in the fetal brain and increased the ratio of Bax Bcl-2 at dose of 30 mg kg day P . Significance Our study has demonstrated that prenatal cocaine exposure induces apoptosis in the .
