Relationships between calpains and glutamate- or kainate-induced apoptosis in Xenopus laevis tadpoles.

Cell glutamate-damage induced by overstimulation of ionotropic receptors is initiated by modification of the intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis and the concomitant activation of Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteases, the calpain and caspase families. The resultant cleavage of target molecules mediates a critical function in the execution of the cell death. In this work, we investigated relationships between the activity of calpain and glutamate-orkainate-induced apoptosis in several organs of Xenopus laevis tadpole.