Apoptosis
Definition
Apoptosis is a process of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. It's a way for the body to get rid of old, unnecessary, or damaged cells.
Analogy
Think of apoptosis like a self-cleaning oven. When it's time to clean, the oven heats up to high temperatures and burns off all the leftover food particles. Similarly, when a cell is no longer needed or is potentially harmful, it undergoes apoptosis and effectively 'cleans' itself out of the system.
Related terms
Cell Cycle: The sequence of growth and division that cells go through. This includes interphase (growth), mitosis (division), and cytokinesis (separation).
Necrosis: A form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis.
Caspases: A family of protease enzymes playing essential roles in programmed cell death (including apoptosis), necrosis, and inflammation.
"Apoptosis" appears in:
Study guides (2)
Practice Questions (3)
- Specialized genes that regulate apoptosis, particularly in damaged cells that may become cancerous, are called __.
- In the event that a cell is damaged, it may enter G-zero, which may result in apoptosis. What is apoptosis?
- Apoptosis is extremely important in the cell for what reason?
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