Monitoring Caspases in Neuronal Cell Death

Apoptosis is a physiological process that contributes to the establishment and homeostasis of the nervous system. For example, neurons that fail to make the proper connections with their postsynaptic targets die naturally during development due to the lack of sufficient trophic support (1 ). Cell demise is operated in a wellordered fashion and culminates in the activation of a network of specific proteases, the caspases that execute the death program. Once activated by the apoptotic signal, caspases cleave a myriad of cellular target proteins in a highly specific fashion. As a consequence, the death signal is amplified, and the committed cell systematically dismantled (2 ). We describe here a practical guide to investigate the involvement of caspases in neuronal cell death.