| The immunohistochemical expression of neuron-specific enolase, NSE (a cytoplasmic glycolytic enzyme of the neurons), synaptophysin, SYN (a major membrane glycoprotein of synaptic vesicles), and Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic protein) were determined in cerebral cortex of rats envenomed with neurotoxic venom from Egyptian cobra. Male rats were intramuscularly (IM) injected with a single injection of either physiological saline solution or ½ LD50 or LD50 of cobra venom and sacrificed 24, 48, or 72 hr after envenoming. Formalin-fixed paraffin sections were immunohistochemically studied by avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method. Neuron histological structure and isolation of genomic DNA were also detected. The results showed a dose and time-dependent increase in NSE... |
