P J Nicholls, Thomas F Pack, Nikhil M Urs, Sunil Kumar, Yang Zhou, Gabriel Ichim, Joshua D Ginzel, Gabor Turu, Evan Calabrese, Wendy L Roberts, Ping Fan, Valeriy G Ostapchenko, Monica S Guzman Lenis, Flavio Beraldo, Jiri Hatina, Vania F Prado, Marco A M Prado, Ivan Spasojevic, Joshua C Snyder, Kafui Dzirasa, G Allan Johnson, Marc G Caron
The protease caspase-3 is a key mediator of apoptotic programmed cell death. But weak or transient caspase activity can contribute to neuronal differentiation, axonal pathfinding, and synaptic long-term depression. Despite the importance of sublethal, or nonapoptotic, caspase activity in neurodevelopment and neural plasticity, there has been no simple method for mapping and quantifying nonapoptotic caspase activity (NACA) in rodent brains. We therefore generated a transgenic mouse expressing a highly sensitive and specific fluorescent reporter of caspase activity, with peak signal localized to the nucleus...
2022: ENeuro