Induction of apoptosis by wheat germ agglutinin in mouse fibroblast cell line L929 / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM: To investigate whether wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) could induce apoptosis in mouse fibroblast cell line L929 and the possible molecular mechanism underlying. METHODS: The cells were exposed to WGA or its succinylated form (sWGA) for 24 h and both attached cells and the cells in supernatant were collected. The percentages of apoptotic cells were estimated by flow cytometry after staining with propidium iodide. Cell morphology was observed under fluorescence microscope after staining the cells with acridine orange. RESULTS: WGA treatment resulted in significant increase of the low DNA content peak (sub-G 1) that representing apoptotic cells, whereas sWGA did not. Morphologic study demonstrated that exposure to WGA induced nuclear fragmentation while sWGA not. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that WGA (specific for both sialic acid and GlcNAc) induces apoptosis in L929 cells, whereas sWGA (specific only for GlcNAc) does not. It is possible that binding to sialic acid residues on the cell surface of L929 is essential for WGA to induce apoptosis. Apoptosis induction may be, at least in part, involved in the cytotoxicity of WGA. [