The preventive effects of Bcl-2 and Bcl-x_L on lovastatin-induced apoptosis of C6 glial cells

It has been reported that lovastatin induced cell death and suppressed proliferation in various cell lines. In this study, we examined whether the cytotoxic effects of lovastatin could be prevented by Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L in C6 glial cells. Overexpression of human Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L prevented lovastatin (25 μM)-induced changes such as DNA fragmentation, chromatin condensation, disruption of cell membrane, and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Lovastatin-induced inhibition of cell proliferation was unaffected by Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L overexpression. These results suggest that Bcl-2 and Bcl-x_L can prevent lovastatin-induced apoptosis in C6 glial cells, though the inhibition of proliferation remains unaffected by these proteins.