What is a caspase-3 assay?
What is a caspase-3 assay?
The Caspase-3 Activity Assay Kit is a fluorescent assay that detects the activity of caspase-3 in cell lysates. It contains a fluorogenic substrate (N-Acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin or Ac-DEVD-AMC) for caspase-3.
How does caspase-3 assay work?
The Caspase-3 assay protocol is based on the formation of the chromophore p-nitroaniline (p-NA) by cleavage from the labeled substrate DEVD-pNA. The p-NA can be quantified using a spectrophotometer or a microtiter plate reader reading absorbance at 400 or 405 nm.
What is caspase activity assay?
Caspase activity assays in multi-well plate formats represent powerful tools for understanding experimental modulation of the apoptotic response. Unlike other more cumbersome or laborious techniques, caspase activity induction or inhibition measures are quantifiable and definitive.
What is caspase-3 7 activity assay?
The Caspase-Glo® 3/7 Assay(a,b) is a homogeneous, luminescent assay that measures caspase-3 and -7 activities. The assay provides a luminogenic caspase-3/7 substrate, which contains the tetrapeptide sequence DEVD, in a reagent optimized for caspase activity, luciferase activity and cell lysis.
How does caspase-3 cause apoptosis?
Caspase-3 is known as an executioner caspase in apoptosis because of its role in coordinating the destruction of cellular structures such as DNA fragmentation or degradation of cytoskeletal proteins (1). The activity of caspase-3 is tightly regulated and it is produced as zymogen in an inactive pro-form (1).
How is caspase-3 activated?
Activation. Caspase-3 is activated in the apoptotic cell both by extrinsic (death ligand) and intrinsic (mitochondrial) pathways. The zymogen feature of caspase-3 is necessary because if unregulated, caspase activity would kill cells indiscriminately.
What is the role of caspase-3 in apoptosis?
Caspase-3 is known as an executioner caspase in apoptosis because of its role in coordinating the destruction of cellular structures such as DNA fragmentation or degradation of cytoskeletal proteins (1).
What is a limitation of the caspase-3 assay?
Additionally, the main limitations for our multiplexing protocol are that caspase-3/7 activity can determined but not quantified, and the resulting lysate cannot be used for downstream assays (i.e. Western blots or gene expression).
How do you test caspase activity?
Caspase activity was determined by quantifying fluorescence images after excitation at 380 nm and emission centered at both 545 nm (yellow fluorescence, i.e. FRET) and 450 nm (blue fluorescence, i.e. conventional excitation) were captured.
Why is caspase-3 important?
Caspases are crucial mediators of programmed cell death (apoptosis). Thus, caspase-3 is essential for certain processes associated with the dismantling of the cell and the formation of apoptotic bodies, but it may also function before or at the stage when commitment to loss of cell viability is made.
How is caspase-3 related to Alzheimer’s?
Active caspase-3 increases in Tg2576 hippocampal synapses. In vitro studies have suggested that a localized caspase-3–dependent apoptosis contributes to early synaptic loss in Alzheimer and other neurodegenerative diseases10; the mechanism(s) underlying this process, however, remains elusive.
How does caspase cascade work?
Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases that act in concert in a cascade triggered by apoptosis signaling. The culmination of this cascade is the cleavage of a number of proteins in the cell, followed by cell disassembly, cell death, and, ultimately, the phagocytosis and removal of the cell debris.