TUNEL-positive labeling in mouse inner ear is not apoptosis.

2003 MAY 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- TUNEL-positive labeling caused by tubulin immunization in the mouse inner ear does not appear to be apoptosis.

According to a study from the United States and Italy, "Apoptosis is involved in all fundamental processes of the immune system. To study whether apoptosis plays any role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune inner ear disease, we immunized Balb/c mice with tubulin. The inner ears were examined with TUNEL (in situ terminal dUTP nick-end labeling) and immunocytochemistry of the apoptosis regulatory proteins Bcl-2 and Bax."

"TUNEL-positive cells are found in the tubulin-immunized inner ears but not in the control inner ears," reported Xiaoping Du and colleagues at the University of Tennessee in the United States and the University of Genoa in Italy. "The positive cells are the marginal cells in the stria vascularis, and the hair cells in Corti's organ and the saccule. However, under morphological analysis by light microscope, these cells lack the features characteristic of apoptosis. Moreover, no cells staining positive for Bcl-2 and Bax are found in any ...