Mitigating Apoptotic and Inflammatory Signaling via Global Caspase Inhibition in Hibernating Ground Squirrels, Spermophilus lateralis.

AbstractIn most systems, the caspase cascade is activated during cellular stress and results in inflammation and apoptosis. Hibernators experience stressors such as extremely low body temperatures, bradycardia, possible ischemia and reperfusion, and acidosis. However, widespread inflammation and apoptosis would represent an energetic expense that is incompatible with hibernation. To better understand global caspase regulation during hibernation, we employed a systems-level approach and analyzed 11 caspases in ground squirrel liver that are involved in inflammatory (caspases 1, 4, 5, 11, and 12) and apoptotic (caspases 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10) pathways. Western blots revealed liberation of active forms for two inflammatory (caspases 11 and 12) and two apoptotic (caspases 6 and 9) caspases during hibernation (e.g., p15, the most active fragment of caspase 6, increased 8.26±0.70-fold in interbout-aroused animals). We used specific peptide substrates to interrogate the four seemingly activated caspases and demonstrated no expected increases in proteolytic activity. Specific targets of these four caspases were similarly not cleaved, demonstrating that initiation of caspase activation may occur without concomitant downstream effects. Similarly, we found no evidence for upstream activation for caspase 9 signaling based on permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane. We contend that these caspases are suppressed after seeming activation during hibernation. Incomplete caspase signaling is effectively mitigating the induction of widespread inflammation and apoptosis during hibernation.