SummaryIn a number of experimental systems in which lymphocyte depletion was induced by apoptosisinducing manipulations, no apoptotic morphology and ladder-type DNA fragmentation were detected among freshly isolated peripheral lymphocytes ex vivo. Here we report that one alteration that can be detected among splenocytes stimulated with lymphocyte-depleting doses of dexamethasone (DEX) in vivo is a reduced uptake of 3,3'dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide (DiOC6[3]), a fluorochrome which incorporates into cells dependent upon their mitochondrial transmembrane potential (A~m). In contrast, ex vivo isolated splenocytes still lacked established signs of programmed cell death (PCD): DNA degradation into high or low molecular weight fragments, ultrastructural changes of chromatin arrangement and endoplasmatic reticulum, loss in viability, or accumulation of intracellular peroxides. Moreover, no changes in cell membrane potential could be detected. A reduced A~m has been observed in response to different agents inducing lymphoid cell depletion in vivo (superantigen and glucocorticoids [GC]), in mature T and B lymphocytes, as well as their precursors. DEX treatment in vivo, followed by cytofluorometric purification of viable A~m l~ splenic T cells ex vivo, revealed that this fraction of cells is irreversibly committed to undergoing DNA fragmentation. Immediately after purification neither A~m l~ nor AlI;mhigh cells, exhibit detectable DNA fragmentation. However, after short-term culture (37~ 1 h) A~m l~ cells show endonucleolysis, followed by cytolysis several hours later. Incubation of AlICml~ cells in the presence of excess amount of the GC receptor antagonist RU-38486 (which displaces DEX from the GC receptor), cytokines that inhibit DEX-induced cell death, or cycloheximide fails to prevent cytolysis. The antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine, as well as linomide, an agent that effectively inhibits DEX or superantigen-induced lymphocyte depletion in vivo, also stabilize the DiOC6(3) uptake. In contrast, the endonuclease inhibitor, aurintricarboxylic acid acts at later stages of apoptosis and only retards the transition from the viable AlICml~ to the nonviable fraction. Altogether, these data suggest a sequence of PCD-associated events in which a reduction in A~m constitutes an obligate irreversible step of ongoing lymphocyte death, preceding other alterations of cellular physiology, and thus allowing for the ex vivo assessment of PCD.

During apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane permeability (MMP) increases and the release into the cytosol of pro-apoptotic factors (procaspases, caspase activators and caspase-independent factors such as apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)) leads to the apoptotic phenotype. Apart from this pivotal role of mitochondria during the execution phase of apoptosis (documented in other reviews of this issue), it appears that reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the mitochondria can be involved in cell death. These toxic compounds are normally detoxified by the cells, failing which oxidative stress occurs. However, ROS are not only dangerous molecules for the cell, but they also display a physiological role, as mediators in signal transduction pathways. ROS participate in early and late steps of the regulation of apoptosis, according to different possible molecular mechanisms. In agreement with this role of ROS in apoptosis signaling, inhibition of apoptosis by anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-x(L) is associated with a protection against ROS and/or a shift of the cellular redox potential to a more reduced state. Furthermore, the fact that active forms of cell death in yeast and plants also involve ROS suggests the existence of an ancestral redox-sensitive death signaling pathway that has been independent of caspases and Bcl-2.

Programmed cell death (PCD) is involved in the removal of superfluous and damaged cells in most organ systems. The induction phase of PCD or apoptosis is characterized by an extreme heterogeneity of potential PCD-triggering signal transduction pathways. During the subsequent effector phase, the numerous PCD-inducing stimuli converge into a few stereotypical pathways and cells pass a point of no return, thus becoming irreversibly committed to death. It is only during the successive degradation phase that vital structures and functions are destroyed, giving rise to the full-blown phenotype of PCD. Evidence is accumulating that cytoplasmic structures, including mitochondria, participate in the critical effector stage and that alterations commonly considered to define PCD (apoptotic morphology of the nucleus and regular, oligonucleosomal chromatin fragmentation) have to be ascribed to the late degradation phase. The decision as to whether a cell will undergo PCD or not may be expected to be regulated by "switches" that, once activated, trigger self-amplificatory metabolic pathways. One of these switches may reside in a perturbation of mitochondrial function. Thus, a decrease in mitochondrial transmembrane potential, followed by mitochondrial uncoupling and generation of reactive oxygen species, precedes nuclear alterations. It appears that molecules that participate in apoptotic decision-making also exert functions that are vital for normal cell proliferation and intermediate metabolism.

Programmed cell death serves as a major mechanism for the precise regulation of cell numbers and as a defense mechanism to remove unwanted and potentially dangerous cells. Despite the striking heterogeneity of cell death induction pathways, the execution of the death program is often associated with characteristic morphological and biochemical changes, and this form of programmed cell death has been termed apoptosis.Genetic studies in Caenorhabditis elegans had led to the identification of cell death genes (ced). The genes ced-3 and ced-4 are essential for cell death; ced-9 antagonizes the activities of ced-3 and ced-4, and thereby protects cells that should survive from any accidental activation of the death program. Caspases (cysteine aspartases) are the mammalian homologues of CED-3. CED-9 protein is homologous to a family of many members termed the Bcl-2 family (Bcl-2s) in reference to the first discovered mammalian cell death regulator. In both worm and mammalian cells, the antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family act upstream of the execution caspases somehow preventing their proteolytic processing into active killers.Two main mechanisms of action have been proposed to connect Bcl-2s to caspases. In the first one, antiapoptotic Bcl-2s would maintain cell survival by dragging caspases to intracellular membranes (probably the mitochondrial membrane) and by preventing their activation. The recently described mammalian protein Apaf-1 (apoptosis protease-activating factor 1) could be the mammalian equivalent of CED-4 and could be the physical link between Bcl-2s and caspases. In the second one, Bcl-2 would act by regulating the release from mitochondria of some caspases activators: cytochrome c and/or AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor). This crucial position of mitochondria in programmed cell death control is reinforced by the observation that mitochondria contribute to apoptosis signaling via the production of reactive oxygen species. Although for a long time the absence of mitochondrial changes was considered as a hallmark of apoptosis, mitochondria appear today as the central executioner of programmed cell death. In this review, we examine the data concerning the mitochondrial features of apoptosis. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility that the mechanism originally involved in the maintenance of the symbiosis between the bacterial ancestor of the mitochondria and the host cell precursor of eukaryotes, provided the basis for the actual mechanism controlling cell survival.

Apoptosis is a process of programmed cell death that serves as a major mechanism for the precise regulation of cell numbers, and as a defense mechanism to remove unwanted and potentially dangerous cells. Studies in nematode, Drosophila and mammals have shown that, although regulation of the cell death machinery is somehow different from one species to another, it is controlled by homologous proteins and involves mitochondria. In mammals, activation of caspases (cysteine proteases that are the main executioners of apoptosis) is under the tight control of the Bcl-2 family proteins, named in reference to the first discovered mammalian cell death regulator. These proteins mainly act by regulating the release of caspases activators from mitochondria. Although for a long time the absence of mitochondrial changes was considered as a hallmark of apoptosis, mitochondria appear today as the central executioner of apoptosis. In this chapter, we present the current view on the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis with a particular attention to new aspects of the regulation of the Bcl-2 proteins family control of mitochondrial membrane permeabilization: the mechanisms implicated in their mitochondrial targeting and activation during apoptosis, the function(s) of the oncosuppressive protein p53 at the mitochondria and the role of the processes of mitochondrial fusion and fission.

Rodent embryo cells immortalized with temperature-sensitive mutants of simian virus 40 large tumor (T) antigen have a proliferative potential that depends on temperature. At the restrictive temperature, heat-inactivation oflarge T antigen causes p53 release, growth arrest, and cell death.Morphological and molecular analysis indicate that the induced cell death corresponds to apoptosis. Flow cytometric analysis using a combination of forward light scatter and side scatter allows a discrimination of cells committed to apoptosis within the whole population. These cells display a reduction in cell size and a higher cellular density, confirming the apoptotic nature of the cell death. When cells exhibiting the morphological features of apoptosis were stained with a fluorescent probe of the mitochondrial membrane potential, a decreased accumulation of the dye was recorded. Measures of cellular respiration, performed with whole-cell populations, showed that the lower mitochondrial membrane potential (At,) correlates, as expected, with an uncoupling of electron transport from ATP production and is linked to the induction of apoptosis. We also show that this decrease in A'I is associated with a decrease in the rate ofmitochondrial translation. These events are detected at early stages of the apoptotic process, when most of the cells are not irreversibly committed to death, suggesting that mitochondria could be a primary target during apoptosis.Mammalian cells grown in culture exhibit a finite life-span for proliferation. After a variable number of divisions they stop dividing, undergo a variety of changes, and finally die. Some oncogenes have the ability to confer an unlimited proliferative potential (immortality) to primary cells in culture. In the case of polyomavirus-induced immortalization of rodent embryo fibroblasts, it has been shown that the unlimited proliferative capacity is maintained by the large tumor (T) antigen (1)(2)(3)(4) MATERIALS AND METHODSCell Lines and Cell Culture. The REtsAF and RELPB cell lines were isolated at low cell density from a rat embryo fibroblast culture infected with SV40 (2). REtsAF was obtained by using a temperature-sensitive tsA58 mutant and is temperature sensitive for immortalization, whereas RELPB was obtained with wild-type SV40 and is immortal at both 330 and 39.50C. REtsAF-Revl was derived from REtsAF by selection for proliferation at 39.50C (8

Clusterin is a puzzling protein upregulated in many diseased tissues,presented as either a survival or a death protein. The role of clusterin might depend on the final maturation and localization of the protein, which can be secreted or reside inside cells, either after in situ synthesis or uptake of extracellular clusterin. We studied the biological effects of intracellular clusterin and observed that clusterin forms containing the α-chain region strongly accumulated in an ubiquitinated form in juxtanuclear aggregates meeting the main criterions of aggresomes and leading to profound alterations of the mitochondrial network. The viability of cells transfected by intracellular forms of clusterin was improved by overexpression of Bcl-2,and caspase inhibition was capable of rescuing cells expressing clusterin,which presented an altered mitochondrial permeability. We propose that,although it might be an inherently pro-survival and anti-apoptotic protein expressed by cells under stress in an attempt to protect themselves, clusterin can become highly cytotoxic when accumulated in the intracellular compartment. This activity might reconcile the opposite purported influences of clusterin on cell survival and explain how clusterin can be causally involved in neurodegeneration.

Fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) is a differentiation and survival factor for neuronal cells both in vitro and in vivo. FGF1 activities can be mediated not only by paracrine and autocrine pathways involving FGF receptors but also by an intracrine pathway, which is an underestimated mode of action. Indeed, FGF1 lacks a secretion signal peptide and contains a nuclear localization sequence (NLS), which is consistent with its usual intracellular and nuclear localization. To progress in the comprehension of the FGF1 intracrine pathway in neuronal cells, we examined the role of the nuclear translocation of FGF1 for its neurotrophic activity as well as for its protective activity against p53-dependent apoptosis. Thus, we have transfected PC12 cells with different FGF1 expression vectors encoding wild type or mutant (Delta NLS) FGF1. This deletion inhibited both FGF1 nuclear translocation and FGF1 neurotrophic activity (including differentiation and serum-free cell survival). We also show that endogenous FGF1 protection of PC12 cells against p53-dependent cell death requires FGF1 nuclear translocation. Strikingly, wild type FGF1 is found interacting with p53, in contrast to the mutant FGF1 deleted of its NLS, suggesting the presence of direct and/or indirect interactions between FGF1 and p53 pathways. Thus, we present evidences that FGF1 may act by a nuclear pathway to induce neuronal differentiation and to protect the cells from apoptosis whether cell death is induced by serum depletion or p53 activation.