Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neurochem Res. 2016 May 25;41(9):2278–2288. doi: 10.1007/s11064-016-1942-9

Figure 6. Active caspases cleave tau in the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line.

Figure 6

(a) SH-SY5Y cells were UV irradiated in the presence of the general caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk (100 μM) and immunoblotted for cleaved tau (CTau). Cells that were UV irradiated had detectable cleaved tau but this was blocked by the caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk. Actin served as a loading control. (b) Quantitative densitometry indicates SH-SY5Y cells show a higher amount of cleaved tau (normalized to actin) compared to control and zVAD-fmk treated cells. (c) SH-SY5Y cells that have been UV irradiated show increased levels of caspase activity (normalized to buffer), measured using the caspase substrate DEVD-afc and this is inhibited by pretreatment with zVAD-fmk. (d) SH-SY5Y cells that have been UV irradiated stain Thioflavin S-positive (green) and this is inhibited by treatment with zVAD-fmk. Arrows indicate Thioflavin S-positive cells (green). Scale bars represent 100μm.