Abstract
The effect of bcl-2 gene ablation on epidermal cell death induced by UV-B irradiation was investigated in mice. Exposure of depilated back skin of bcl-2−/− mice to 0.5 J/cm2 UV-B caused a prolonged increase in the number of epidermal cells showing nuclear DNA fragmentation compared to wild-type littermates. Consistently, skin explants from bcl-2-deficient mice exhibited a higher number of sunburn cells per cm epidermis (16.6±2.1 vs 7.0±1.5) following exposure to 0.1 J/cm2 UV-B in vitro. Furthermore, UV irradiation failed to increase pre-melanosomes in skin explants from mutant animals, and primary menalocyte cultures derived from bcl-2 null mutants were highly susceptible to UV-induced cell death compared to cultures from wild-type littermates. An accelerated reappearance of proliferating cells, showing nuclear immunoreactivity for Ki-67 and c-Fos, was observed in the UV-irradiated epidermis of bcl-2-deficient mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that effects of UV radiation on epidermal cell death and cell cycle progression are influenced by survival-promoting Bcl-2.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Edited by J.C. Reed
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gillardon, F., Moll, I., Meyer, M. et al. Alterations in cell death and cell cycle progression in the UV-irradiated epidermis of bcl-2-deficient mice. Cell Death Differ 6, 55–60 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4400455
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4400455