Fig. 2.

PACAP promotes resistance to apoptotic stimuli which is dependent on AP firing. (a,b) PACAP protects against staurosporine-induced cell death, but not in the presence of TTX. Neurons were treated with PACAP in the presence or absence of TTX 24 h and 1 h before treatment with 100 nM staurosporine. After a further 24 h, the cells were then fixed and DAPI stained and death was measured by counting pyknotic and non-pyknotic nuclei (*p < 0.05, n = 4); (b) shows example pictures. (c) PACAP-induced AP firing protects against trophic deprivation and promotes long lasting neuroprotection. At t = 0, the neurons were placed in trophically-deprived medium and given one of the three treatment regimes outlined in the upper schematic (1–3). At t = 72 h, cells were fixed, DAPI stained and levels of neuronal death analysed (*p < 0.05, n = 3).