Anti-Cancer Drugs And Apoptosis
L. I. Huschtscha, Claes R. Andersson, Wendy A. Bartier, Martin H.N. Tattersall · 2024
Two biochemically distinct mechanisms of cell death, apoptosis and necrosis have been distinguished based on morphological criteria ( Kerr et al ., 1972 ). Cell death by apoptosis is characterised by overall cell shrinkage, margination of chromatin in sharply defined masses adjoining the nuclear envelope and nuclear and cellular fragmentation to produce apoptotic bodies which can be phagocytosed by adjacent cells. However, cells undergoing necrosis are characterised by cell swelling, chromatin flocculation and disruption of membrane integrity followed by cell lysis ( Kerr et al ., 1972 ; Wyllie et al ., 1980 ; Wyllie, 1987 ). Cells dying by apoptosis have been shown to cleave double-stranded DNA at internucleosomal sites giving rise to oligonucleotides which are discrete multiples of about 200 base pairs ( Wyllie, 1980 ; Arends et al ., 1990 ). This degraded DNA produces a ladder-like pattern when run on DNA agarose gels. In contrast, the DNA during necrosis is cleaved randomly, producing a smear pattern on DNA gels.