Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organism. Characteristic phenomena of apoptosis includes surface membrane blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear and cytoplasmic condensation, and DNA fragmentation.
This Mitochondria/Caspase-dependent Apoptosis kit investigates the apoptosis process via downstream pathway of Cytochrome C released from mitochondria. The Bcl-2 family proteins regulate apoptosis by controlling mitochondrial permeability. The anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL reside in the outer membrane of mitochondria and inhibit cytochrome c release. The apoptotic proteins Bad, Bid, Bax, and Bim, otherwise, promote Cytochrome C release and trigger cell death. Upon release from mitochondria, cytochrome c binds to Apaf-1 and forms apoptosome with Caspase-9. Subsequently, proCaspase-3 will be cleaved and activated. Finally, PARP is inactivated by active caspase-3 cleavage and cell death occurs.