Effect of carbon monoxide treatment on neuronal apoptosis.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Representative micrographs of neurons treated or not with 20 µM of glutamate and 10 µM of CO. Apoptotic hallmarks were analyzed by fluorescent microscopy. <i>Upper panel</i>, for the photos taken with the filter for phase contrast, <i>middle panel</i>, for Hoechst (white arrows for nuclei with condensed chromatin) and <i>lower panel</i>, for propidium iodide (white arrows for cells which membrane integrity was lost). (<b>B</b>) Primary cultures of neuronal cells were pre-treated with 10 µM CO, followed by 24 h of glutamate (10–30 µM) treatment. Cell viability was assessed by counting cells containing normal nuclei and plasmatic membrane integrity. For each coverslip, at least 1500 cells were counted. All values are mean ± SD (error bars), n = 5; *<i>p</i><0.05 compared to control. (<b>C</b>) The effect of 10 µM CO treatment on Bcl-2 expression was assessed by its mRNA quantification.