Figure 5.

Reduced KCC2 expression in mature, but not developing neuronal networks, increases the levels of proapoptotic cleaved caspases.A, immunoblots on lysates of cortical/hippocampal cultures infected with AAV-GFP or AAV-Cre at DIV3 or DIV18. Lysates were probed for the total and cleaved levels of the extrinsic proapoptotic marker; caspase 8, the intrinsic proapoptotic markers; caspase 3 and caspase 7, the inflammation proapoptotic caspase 12, PARP, KCC2, the KCC2-associated structural protein Sptan1, and β-actin. B, removal of KCC2 from mature networks resulted in an increase in the expression of several apoptotic markers. The bar charts show the quantification of the levels of cleaved caspase 8, cleaved caspase 3, and Sptan1, with significantly changed expression marked (∗p < 0.05, n = 3 replicates).