Combining Electrical Stimulation and Cisplatin Treatment Increases Caspase Activity

抄録

Electrical stimulation has various effects on cellular functions. We previously reported a combined effect of electrical stimulation and cisplatin treatment on HeLa cell death. The present study investigates the signaling pathway behind this phenomenon. Decreased viability of HeLa cells after electrical stimulation plus cisplatin treatment was suppressed by addition of the caspase inhibitor zVAD-FMK. This showed that HeLa cell death induced by combining electrical stimulation and cisplatin treatment was caused by increased caspase activity. Moreover, mitochondrial cytochrome c release and c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) activities were enhanced by this combined treatment. These results indicated that combined treatment-induced apoptosis was caused by increasing caspase activity via the JNK signal pathway.