Caspase-3 activity is present in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with traumatic brain injury

Loss of neurons after traumatic brain injury (TBI) might involve dysregulated. apoptosis. Activation of caspase-3 is one hallmark of apoptosis. Therefore, caspase-3 activity (cleavage of DEVD-afc) was measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples (n = 113) from 27 patients with TBI at day I t0 14 after trauma. Caspase-3 activity was detected in 31 (27.4%) CSF samples with-highest values (> 5.5 41 muM/min) seen at day 2-5 after trauma. No caspase-3 activity was found in serum from patients or CSF from controls. The presence of activated caspase-3 in CSF suggests ongoing apoptotic processes during traumatic brain injury. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.