Bim, Bad, and Bax: a deadly combination in epileptic seizures.

Several Bcl-2 family members, including Bim, may contribute to programmed cell death by inducing mitochondrial cytochrome c release, which activates caspase-9 and then caspase-3, the "executioner" of the cell. In this issue of the JCI, Shinoda and collaborators show the key role of Bim in epileptic seizure-induced neuronal injury and identify the contribution of transcription factors responsible for seizure-induced Bim upregulation.