Lead acetate induced apoptosis and the activation of caspase-3 in PC12 cell

MTT assay and TUNEL assay were used to detect cell viability and apoptosis rate in PC12 cells respectively. The activation of caspase-3 was measured by fluorescent dye labeled specific inhibitor of caspase-3. The results showed that, both apoptosis rate and activation of caspase-3 in PC12 cells increased in a dose-dependent manner, after exposure to 0.1, 1, 10, 100 μmol·L~ -1 lead acetate for 24 h. When the concentration reached 1 μmol·L~ -1 , cell viability decreased significantly. Therefore, it might be concluded that, lead acetate can induce apoptosis in PC12 cells and the activation of caspase-3 may play an important role in this process.