apoptotic process

Also known as GO:0006915, apoptotic cell death, apoptotic programmed cell death, apoptosis, programmed cell death by apoptosis

Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, and mRNA decay. The average adult human loses 50 to 70 billion cells each day to apoptosis. For the average human child between 8 and 14 years old, each day the approximate loss is 20 to 30 billion cells.

AI overview

Apoptosis is a natural process in which cells in your body deliberately self-destruct through a series of internal chemical signals, resulting in characteristic changes like cell shrinkage and the breaking apart of the cell's DNA. This programmed cell death is essential for life—healthy adults lose between 50 and 70 billion cells daily through apoptosis, making it a normal and necessary part of how living organisms maintain themselves.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Anatomy.Name: Apoptosis
Anatomy.Image: Apoptosis DU145 cells mosaic.jpg
Anatomy.Caption: An etoposide-treated DU145 prostate cancer cell exploding into a cascade of apoptotic bodies. The sub images were extracted from a 61-hour time-lapse microscopy video, created using quantitative phase-contrast microscopy. The optical thickness is color-coded. With increasing thickness, color changes from gray to yellow, red, purple and finally black. />See the video at The Cell: An Image Library
Anatomy.Width: 306

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Research

637,440 papers

Apoptotic process in cystic fibrosis cells.ReviewApoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2013Soleti R, Porro C, Martínez MCDOI: 10.1007/s10495-013-0874-y
Apoptotic cell removal.ReviewCurrent biology : CB · 2001Henson PM, Bratton DL, Fadok VADOI: 10.1016/s0960-9822(01)00474-2
Mitochondrial membrane permeabilization during the apoptotic process.ReviewAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 1999Jacotot E, Costantini P, Laboureau E et al.DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb07919.x
Ovarian follicle atresia: a hormonally controlled apoptotic process.ReviewEndocrine reviews · 1994Hsueh AJ, Billig H, Tsafriri ADOI: 10.1210/edrv-15-6-707
Exploiting the apoptotic process for management of HIV: are we there yet?ReviewApoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2001Yang Y, Ashwell JDDOI: 10.1023/a:1009600901706
Re-establishment of a normal apoptotic process as a therapeutic approach in B-CLL.ReviewCurrent drug targets. Cardiovascular & haematological disorders · 2003Kolb JP, Kern C, Quiney C et al.DOI: 10.2174/1568006033481384
Mitochondrial apoptotic pathways.ReviewBiocell : official journal of the Sociedades Latinoamericanas de Microscopia Electronica ... et. al · 2005Mohamad N, Gutiérrez A, Núñez M et al.
Fas ligand-induced apoptosis.ReviewAnnual review of genetics · 1999Nagata SDOI: 10.1146/annurev.genet.33.1.29

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Wikidata facts

Image: Embryonic foot of mouse.jpg

Show 2 more facts

Commons category: Apoptosis
exact match: purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GO_0006915

Sources (3)

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~41 min read

Article

33 sections

Contents

Discovery and etymology
Activation mechanisms
Intrinsic pathway
Extrinsic pathway
TNF pathway
Fas pathway
Common components
Caspases
Caspase-independent apoptotic pathway
Apoptosis model in amphibians
Negative regulators of apoptosis
Proteolytic caspase cascade: Killing the cell
Apoptotic cell disassembly
Removal of dead cells
Pathway knock-outs
Methods for distinguishing apoptotic from necrotic cells
Implication in disease
Defective pathways
Dysregulation of p53
Inhibition
HeLa cell
Treatments
Hyperactive apoptosis
Treatments
HIV progression
Viral infection
Plants
Caspase-independent apoptosis
See also
Explanatory footnotes
Citations
General bibliography
External links

In contrast to necrosis, which is a form of traumatic cell death that results from acute cellular injury, apoptosis is a highly regulated and controlled process that confers advantages during an organism's life cycle. For example, the separation of fingers and toes in a developing human embryo occurs because cells between the digits undergo a form of apoptosis that is genetically determined. Unlike necrosis, apoptosis produces cell fragments called apoptotic bodies that phagocytes are able to engulf and remove before the contents of the cell can spill out onto surrounding cells and cause damage to them.