TY  - EJOU
AU  - Pfister, Bryan  
AU  - Oyler, George  
AU  - Betenbaugh, Michael  
AU  - Bao, Gang  

TI  - The Effects of BclX<sub><i>L</i></sub> and Bax Over-expression on Stretch-injury Induced Neural Cell Death
T2  - Molecular \& Cellular Biomechanics

PY  - 2004
VL  - 1
IS  - 4
SN  - 1556-5300

AB  - The Bcl-2 family of proteins has recently been implicated as a possible player in the complex cascade of neural cell death due to traumatic brain injuries. However, it is unclear if the Bcl-2 pathways are activated in mechanically injured neurons. Here we report the effects of BclX<sub><i>L</i></sub> and Bax over-expression on stretch-induced neural cell death using an <i>in vitro</i> uniaxial stretch model of traumatic axonal injury. Specifically, YFP, YFP-tagged Bax and YFP-tagged BclX<sub><i>L</i></sub> proteins were expressed in differentiated NG108-15 cells and stretch-injury assays were carried out at different strain and strain rate combinations. As a control, insults known to act within the Bcl-2 pathways were used to study cell viability and to compare with the results of cell death due to mechanical stretching. Surprisingly, under the stretch-injury conditions in this study, BclX<sub><i>L</i></sub> did not provide protection against cell death. Further, translocation of Bax could not be identified after stretch-injury. The implications of these findings to cell death pathways in traumatic brain injury are discussed.
KW  - 

DO  - 10.3970/mcb.2004.001.233