Caspase-3, active

Caspases are a family of cytosolic aspartate-specific cysteine proteases involved in the initiation and execution of apoptosis. They are expressed as latent zymogens and are activated by an autoproteolytic mechanism or by processing by other proteases (frequently other caspases). Human caspases can be subdivided into three functional groups: cytokine activation (caspase-1, -4, -5, and -13), apoptosis initiation (caspase-2, -8, -9, -and -10), and apoptosis execution (caspase-3, -6, and -7).

Immunostaining for activated caspase-3 (red) and proteolipid protein (PLP1) in the cortex of P16 msd/Y mutant mouse.  Inset shows DAPI staining for nuclei (top), PLP1 (middle) and activated caspase-3 (bottom). Data Courtesy of Ramaswamy Sharma and Dr. Alexander Gow, Wayne State University.

Image: Detection of active caspase-3 in paraffin-embedded mouse thymus tissue. sections using rabbit anti-human/mouse active caspase-3 affinity-purified antibody. Tissueswere stained using anti-rabbit HRP-DAB (brown color) Cell and Tissue Staining Kit and counterstained with hematoxylin (blue color).