Estrogen receptor alpha and colocalization of Bcl-2 in hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease.
- Author:
Mei ZENG
1
;
Ya-ping LU
;
Hao XU
;
Jiang-ning ZHOU
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Alzheimer Disease; genetics; metabolism; Apoptosis; Astrocytes; metabolism; Estrogen Receptor alpha; Female; Hippocampus; metabolism; pathology; Humans; Neurons; metabolism; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; biosynthesis; genetics; Receptors, Estrogen; genetics; metabolism; physiology
- From: Acta Academiae Medicinae Sinicae 2004;26(2):108-111
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVETo investigate the possible mechanism by which estrogen regulates apoptosis through the estrogen receptor.
METHODSBy means of fluorescence immunocytochemistry, the present study investigated the distribution of Bcl-2 and the colocolization of Bcl-2 and ERalpha immunoreactivity in the hippocampus of 10 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 10 aged controls.
RESULTSBcl-2 immunoreactivity was widely distributed in neurons, concentrating predominantly on the subfields CA3 and CA4 in the stratum pyramidale of hippocampus both in controls and in AD patients. Bcl-2 staining in the labeled neuron was observed mainly in the cytoplasm and neuritic processes, but a few nuclei were also positive. Bcl-2 labeling was also detected in the astrocytes mainly in AD, but sparsely in controls. Double-labeled fluorescence immunocytochemistry showed that most Bcl-2-immunolabeled neurons also exhibited positive staining for ERalpha.
CONCLUSIONSEstrogen may function as a regulator of apoptosis to modulate the expression of Bcl-2 in neurons and astrocytes in hippocampus of AD through ERalpha.
