Fig. 1

Caspase-inhibited neurons undergo delayed chromatin condensation and cell death. (A) Neurons were treated with colchicine (1 µM) in the presence or absence of N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-aspartyl-fluoromethyl ketone (zVAD-fmk; 100 µM), or with zVAD-fmk alone. At the indicated time points, nuclei were stained with H-33342. Then, phase contrast and chromatin fluorescence were imaged simultaneously by confocal microscopy (63×, NA 1.32 lens). The width of the scale bar corresponds to 40 µm. Cultures from wild-type mice (wt) or Bcl-2-overexpressing mice (Bcl-2) were treated with colchicine alone (B) or with colchicine plus zVAD-fmk (C). At the time points indicated, cultures were stained with H-33342, and the percentage of nuclei with condensed chromatin was counted. Data are means ± standard deviation (SD) from seven determinations.