Detection of Apoptosis in Cardiovascular Diseases

The past decade has seen a surge in research devoted to understanding the role of cell death in the pathogenesis of various forms of cardiovascular disease. In particular, apoptosis has received much attention owing to the tightly regulated biochemical nature of this form of cell death and the realization of potential therapeutic opportunities. The current chapter describes a few of the more widely used protocols for detecting and quantifying apoptosis in cardiovascular tissues. Specifically, this chapter describes terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining for DNA fragmentation, Hoechst staining for chromatin condensation, annexin V labeling of phosphatidylserine externalization, and Western blot and immunoflorescence detection of caspase cleavage and activation, respectively.