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Expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3 in Nerve Tissues of Rats Chronically Exposed to 2,5-hexanedione

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Abstract

Occupational exposure and experimental intoxication with n-hexane or its metabolite 2,5-hexanedione (HD) produce a central-peripheral neuropathy. However, the mechanism remains unknown. We hypothesized that HD affected the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3 in the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Male adult Wistar rats were administered by intraperitoneal injection at a dosage of 200 or 400 mg/kg HD, five days per week for 8 weeks. Samples of the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, spinal cord and sciatic nerves were collected and examined for Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3 expression using Western blotting. Subchronic exposure to HD resulted in significantly increased expression of both anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and pro-apoptotic protein Bax and Caspase-3 in cerebral cortex and cerebellum, which exhibited a dose-dependent pattern. Though little change was detected in spinal cord, our results showed that the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3 was markedly enhanced in the sciatic nerves. These findings suggested that the changes of apoptosis-related protein level in rat nerve tissues were associated with the intoxication of HD, which might be involved in early molecular regulatory mechanism of apoptosis in the HD-induced neuropathy.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2002CB512907), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30271138).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Toxicology, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, P.R. China

    Ning Cui, Shanxia Li, Xiulan Zhao, Tianliang Zhang, Cuili Zhang, Lihua Yu, Zhengping Zhu & Keqin Xie

  2. College of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 53 Jingshi Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250014, P.R. China

    Ning Cui

  3. Institute for Health Inspection and Supervision, Weihai, Shandong, 264200, P.R. China

    Shanxia Li

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  1. Ning Cui
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Correspondence to Keqin Xie.

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Cui, N., Li, S., Zhao, X. et al. Expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3 in Nerve Tissues of Rats Chronically Exposed to 2,5-hexanedione. Neurochem Res 32, 1566–1572 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-007-9359-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-007-9359-0

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