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Editors Selection IGR 7-1

Basic science: Caspases

Comment by Leonard A. Levin on:

12544 Transcriptional up-regulation and activation of initiating caspases in experimental glaucoma, Huang W; Dobberfuhl A; Filippopoulos T et al., American Journal of Pathology, 2005; 167: 673-681

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In a technical tour de force, Huang et al. (832) used laser capture microdissection to obtain retrograde labeled retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from rats with experimentally induced ocular hypertension. They were then able to use quantitative PCR to determine the relative levels of (not yet activated) procaspases 8 and 9, proteins that when activated are signals in two important cascades of apoptosis. Beyond the specific results that Huang et al. found - that experimental glaucoma increases mRNA levels of these caspases -, this paper demonstrates the use of an important technique which can be used to examine mRNA changes in a pure RGC population after ocular hypertension.

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