RESUMO
In this study the programmed cell death [apoptosis] of human neutrophilic granulocytes was investigated in the presence and absence of fetal calf serum [FCS], cycloheximide and actinomycin-D. The results show that when FCS is omitted from cultures, apart from a decrease in viability, the percentage of apoptotic cells and DNA fragmentation increases. Apoptosis is accelerated in serum withdrawal cultures at 6 hours of incubation time. The use of fluorescent dyes and diphenylamine reaction procedures confirm the above results. Treatment of cells with protein synthesis inhibitors, actinomycin-D and cycloheximide promotes apoptosis and produces a typical ladder of internucleosomal cleavage in the cellular chromatin; the extent of fragmentation however, differs