细胞凋亡检测技术:进展及应用

Methods of apoptosis detection:advances and applications

细胞凋亡或程序性细胞死亡是一个涉及人类多种生理病理状况的普遍现象,它可能会导致神经系统功能衰退、缺血性损伤、自身免疫性疾病及癌症等疾病的发生。细胞的凋亡状态可以通过形态学、生物化学、分子生物学及免疫学等技术手段进行体外检测。体内细胞凋亡检测探针也在不断发展,出现了多种新型的试剂和方法。但是,每一种检测方法或试剂都不是完美的,它们都有各自的优缺点及适用条件。随着细胞凋亡检测技术的应用日益广泛,如何选择一种合适的方法来检测细胞凋亡以及如何界定每种凋亡检测方法的适用范围常常使研究者感到困惑。因此,对现有的细胞凋亡检测方法的优缺点和适用条件进行比较是必要的。本文综述了凋亡细胞的形态特征、分子机制和特异性的生化变化,并且总结了基于这些特征变化而建立的体内外凋亡检测方法及其优缺点和适用范围。本综述还强调了现有的用于体内凋亡检测的示踪剂及其潜力和局限性,以及细胞凋亡成像在多种疾病领域的临床应用。

Apoptosis,or programmed cell death,is a common phenomenon which involved in a variety of physiological and pathological conditions in humans,such as neurodegenerative diseases,ischemic injury,autoimmune diseases and cancers.Apoptosis can be detected in vitro by morphology,biochemistry,molecular biology,immunology,and other techniques.Probes for cell apoptosis detection in vivo are still under research and various reagents and methods are constantly emerging.However,none of apoptosis detection methods or reagents are perfect and they all have advantages and disadvantages,as well as suitable scope of application.With the increasing application of apoptosis detection techniques,researchers will be confused about how to choose a suitable method to detect apoptosis and define the application range of each apoptosis detection method.Therefore,it is necessary to compare the benefits and drawbacks of existing apoptosis detection techniques as well as their applicable conditions.This article reviews morphological characteristics,molecular mechanism and specific biochemical changes in apoptotic cells.We summarized various apoptosis-detection methods based on these characteristics that can be used in vitro and in vivo,the advantages and disadvantages of each method and the scope of application.Also,we highlighted the existing tracers that have been used in apoptosis detection in vivo,their potentialities and limitations as well as the clinical applications of apoptosis imaging in multiple disease fields.