Cadmium is a heavy metal toxic for living organisms even at low concentrations. It does not have any biological role, and since it is a permanent metal ion, it is accumulated by many organisms. In the present paper we have studied the apoptotic effects of continuous exposure to subacute/sublethal cadmium concentrations on a model system: Paracentrotus lividus embryos. We demonstrated, by atomic absorption spectrometry, that the intracellular amount of metal increased during exposure time. We found, using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay, that long treatments with cadmium triggered a severe DNA fragmentation. We demonstrated, by immunocytochemistry on whole-mount embryos, that treatment with cadmium causes activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of death substrates α-fodrin and lamin A. Incubating the embryos since fertilization with Z-DEVD FMK, a caspase-3 inhibitor, we found, by immunocytochemistry, that cleavage by caspase-3 and cleavage of death substrates were inactivated.
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1 March 2007
Cadmium induces an apoptotic response in sea urchin embryos
Maria Agnello,
Simone Filosto,
Rosaria Scudiero,
Anna M. Rinaldi,
Maria C. Roccheri
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