Fig. 5.

Comparison of acetazolamide with other commercially available CA-inhibitor drugs for protection of R14W-transfected cells from apoptosis. COS-7 cells were transfected with wild-type CA IV (WT) or R14W CA IV (MT) cDNA and incubated with medium alone (Untreated), 10 μM acetazolamide (+AC), 10 μM Azopt (+AZ) (brinzolamide), or 10 μM Trusopt (+TRU) (dorzolamide) for 72 h after transfection. (Upper) The cells were fixed and processed for TUNEL staining. Percent of cells undergoing apoptosis was determined by calculating the number of TUNEL-positive cells divided by the number of CA IV-positive cells from three to five fields of each slide. (Lower) The percent TUNEL-positive cells was plotted. These results suggest that apoptosis of COS-7 cells caused by overexpression of R14W CA IV was largely prevented by all three sulfonamide inhibitors. Un, untreated.