Abstract
Apoptosis and its markers, including three key caspases (no. 3, 8, 9), cytochrome-c and proteins of the Bcl-2 family were studied on various material and from different points of view in order to evaluate different examinations: Spontaneous ('physiological') apoptosis in decidual tissue of rat uterus of pregnant female Wistar rats, which reached maximum in the second third of pregnancy. Physically and chemically induced apoptosis (including application of potential drugs) studied in various oncogenous pathological cell cultures (pituitary adenomas, leukemic cell line HL-60).
Here, we used biochemical analytical methods for caspase enzymatic activity-determination, electrophoretic separation with Western-blotting and determination of velocity of the caspase proenzymes-conversion into their active (executive) forms. Immunocytochemical (ICC) detection of relevant markers was used as a correlate.