Journal
EXPERIMENTAL CELL RESEARCH
Volume 312, Issue 17, Pages 3298-3311Publisher
ELSEVIER INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2006.06.033
Keywords
Rho kinase; ROCK; execution; apoptosis; phagocytosis; GlcNAc; Golgi; fragmentation; PC12; apoptotic body
Categories
Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [T32AG00255] Funding Source: Medline
- NINDS NIH HHS [NS32465] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Apoptotic cells undergo a number of changes to prepare for phagocytosis; most occur during the execution phase of apoptosis, when dying cells undergo shrinkage and/or fragmentation into apoptotic bodies and express phagocytic markers on their surface. Although events during the execution phase are important to prepare corpses for phagocytosis, the mechanisms that control most execution phase events are unknown. To understand regulation of execution events we focused on Rho kinase (ROCK), because one isoform of ROCK, ROCK-I, is constitutively activated by caspases during execution. Using apoptotic PC12 cells as a model, we find that inhibition of ROCK activity during apoptosis decreases surface expression of GlcNAc, a carbohydrate known to function as a phagocytic marker. In addition, inhibition of ROCK blocks Golgi fragmentation in apoptotic cells, and constitutively active ROCK induces Golgi fragmentation in the absence of apoptosis. importantly, PC12 cells dying in the presence of a ROCK inhibitor are less efficiently phagocytized than those dying without the inhibitor. These data highlight the role of ROCK in multiple processes in the execution phase of apoptosis, and suggest that ROCK plays an important role in controlling the outcome of apoptosis, that is, preparation of corpses for phagocytosis. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available