Reversibility of the morphologic alterations and of mitochondrial AIF release induced at low apoptotic insult.

(A) F2-I cells that have been treated with 100 nmol/L staurosporine (STS) for 2 hours were washed and cultured for 24 hours in IL-2-containing medium. The electron micrographs show that the shrunken cells with partially condensed chromatin generated after 2 hours of apoptotic induction recover within 24 hours a normal aspect provided staurosporine is removed. (B) Confocal microscopy analysis showing that AIF tends to recover a punctated mitochondrial localization 24 hours after the removal of staurosporine (compare with Figure 7C).