APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:

• Improved compound toxicity studies
• Determining the role of apoptosis in various pathologies

ADVANTAGES:

• 1% sensitivity

ABSTRACT:

Judith Campisi and Joshua Goldstein at Berkeley Lab have developed the first assay capable of identifying very low levels of apoptosis in single cells. The new technology offers 1% sensitivity compared to the 5% sensitivity of current apoptosis assays. The assay will help elucidate the role of apoptosis in aging and other degenerative diseases in animal and human cell culture models and possibly in in vivo mouse studies. The invention might also enable more sensitive compound toxicity studies and is amenable to high-content screening techniques. The role of small changes in the level of apoptotic cell death may be being overlooked in many pathologies because of the lack of an adequately sensitive assay. The Berkeley Lab assay provides a means to investigate this understudied process.

The Berkeley Lab assay derives its extraordinary sensitivity to low levels of apoptosis by measuring the accumulation of apoptotic cells. Individual cells that have initiated apoptosis can be preserved for three days by inhibiting caspase activity using the chemical inhibitor Q-VD-OPH (QVD). Cells thus suspended in the apoptotic process can be scored by immunostaining for cytochrome c, and then counted. Cytochrome c is redistributed from mitochondria in healthy cells to the cytoplasm in dying cells, offering a useful apoptotic indicator.

STATUS:

• Patent pending. Available for licensing.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Goldstein, J. C., Rodier, F., Garbe, J.C., Stampfer, M.R., Campisis, J., "Caspase-independent cytochrome c release is a sensitive measure of low-level apoptosis in cell culture models," Aging Cell 2005, 4, 217-22.

REFERENCE NUMBER: IB-2051

SEE THESE OTHER BERKELEY LAB TECHNOLOGIES IN THIS FIELD:

• Biomarker for Cell Senescence
• Colorimetric and Fluorescent Sensors for Rapid and Direct Detection of Influenza, E. coli, and Other Analytes

CONTACT: