Influence of daunorubicin and Bax overexpression on the apoptosis of cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells

AIM To study the influence of daunorubicin (DNR) and bax overexpression on the apoptosis of cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells. METHODS Using liposome to transfer the human bax gene into RPE cells.After the cells were treated with 200 μg·L -1 DNR, apoptosis of RPE cells and bax gene tranferred RPE cells were detected by TUNEL methods. Following the protocol of a specific assay kit, then fluorescence emission was used to determine the activity of Caspase 3 indirectly. RESULTS The positive staining cells could be seen in normal condition, after bax gene transfection and treatment with daunorubicin, the positive staining cells increased significantly, and their staining density was stronger than that of the normal cells. The Caspase 3 activity increasing rate of bax gene transferred RPE cells was higher than that of normal RPE cells at all time points after the treatment with DNR ( P 0.01). CONCLUSION DNR and bax overexpression can induce apoptosis of cultured human RPE cells, and bax overexpression can enhance the efficiency of daunorubicin induced apoptosis of RPE cells.