Organ- and Tissue-specific Alterations in the Anti-apoptotic Protein Bcl-2 in CD1 Female Mice of Different Ages

The anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, which also has cytoprotective and antioxidant functions might be one of the crucial factors that altogether, establish how a cell may deal with stress and damage, contributing to longevity. Among the controversial issues to understand Bcl-2 functions in vivo, is to establish its content and variation in tissues during an organismal lifespan. In this work we analyzed the changes of Bcl-2 levels in lung, liver, heart, kidney, spleen and brain homogenates obtained from CD1 mice throughout their lifespan (newborn to 24 months). A tendency of increment was observed in all the organs analyzed, except brain where Bcl-2 was not detected. Bcl-2 over-expression during aging could be interpreted as a protective mechanism preventing cell death, despite the overall accumulated cell damage.