Research Paper Volume 8, Issue 12 pp 3185—3208

Figure 3. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from centenarians over-express Bcl-xL and exhibit decreased markers of intrinsic apoptosis (a) Bcl-xL expression in PBMCs of Alzira centenarians. RT-PCR analysis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from young (n=14), septuagenarians (n=6), or centenarians (n=19) reveals over-expression of Bcl-xL in centenarians versus other groups. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. **P<0.01. (b) Bcl-xL expression in PBMCs of Sardinian centenarians. RT-PCR analysis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from young (n=7), septuagenarians (n=17), or centenarians (n=26) reveals over-expression of Bcl-xL in centenarians versus other groups. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. **P<0.01. (c) Bcl-xL protein expression in PBMCs of Alzira centenarians. Western blot analysis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from young (n=4), septuagenarians (n=5), or centenarians (n=4) reveals over-expression of Bcl-xL in centenarians versus septuagenarians. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. **P<0.01. (d) Caspase 8 levels in PBMCs of Alzira centenarians. ELISA analysis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from young (n=4), septuagenarians (n=5), or centenarians (n=4) reveals higher levels of caspase 8 in centenarians versus other groups. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. *P<0.05, **P<0.01. (e) Cytochrome c levels in plasma derived from young (n=31), septuagenarians (n=31), and centenarians (n=27) as determined by sandwich ELISA. (f) Flow cytometric analysis of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) in fresh PBMCs obtained from young (n=6), septuagenarians (n=6), and centenarians (n=4). (c) Caspase-8 activity in young (n=6), septuagenarians (n=6), and centenarians (n=4).