Cell Death Flashcards
What are the morphological characteristics of cell death?
Shrinkage
Membrane blebbing
Fragmentation
Nucleur condensation
How is apoptosis different from necrosis?
They are excreted so there is no inflammation
What gene is crucial for cell death in C.elegans?
CED3
Why is apotosis needed?
Proper embryonic development
For cells with sustained damage which cannot be repaired
Cells which have undergone senescence
It has outlived it’s usefulness
If it is required to maintain the normal physiological processes in an organism
How many cells die every second
One million cell die per second
Give 5 examples where apoptosis needs to occur to maintain the normal physiological processes of an organism
Shedding of the uterine lining
To remove mutations
The eye lens consists of apoptotic cells
Formation of the epidermis on the skin (protective dead skin layer)
Auto-reactive T cells which would kill healthy cells die before they reach the blood stream
What happens in Bax and Bak KO mice?
They cannot remove the skin between their paws
What happens to the brain of Caspase-9 KO mice?
They get an overgrowth of the brain
What is syndactyly?
Webbed feet and hands because the interdigital space fail to undergo apoptosis
What diseases are associated with too little apoptosis?
cancer
autoimmune diseases
viral infection
What diseases are associated with too much apoptosis?
Neurodegenerative diseases e.g. parkinsons
Viral infection e.g. HIV
Ischemic injury
What is ischemic injury?
Heart attack or strokes
How does apoptosis not induce inflammation?
The macrophages eat the dead cells
What are caspases?
Cysteine-dependent aspartate-directed phosphatases
Why are caspases so named?
The active site has a cysteine, which cleaves after aspartate residues
What are the two types of caspases?
Initiator
Executioner/ effector
What are the initiator caspases?
Caspases -8, -10, -9 and -2
What are the executioner caspases?
Caspase -3, -7 and -6
What is the function of initiator caspases?
They activate the executioner complexes through cleavage
What is the structure of initiator caspases?
they have a long prodomain that is important in their function
How are initiator caspases activated?
Autocatalytic processing triggered by co-factor binding and/ or oligomerisation
What is CAD?
caspase activated DNase
How does actin aid apoptosis induction?
cell rounding and shrinkage
How does acinus aid apoptosis induction?
Chromatin condensation
How does ICAD and PARP aid apoptosis induction?
DNA fragmentation
How does Gelsolin, ROCK-1 and PAK-2 aid apoptosis induction?
Membrane blebbing
How does Xkr8 aid apoptosis induction?
Externalisation of phosphatidyl serine on the plasma membrane
What is ICAD?
It is cleaved by caspases to activate CAD
What is CADs function?
Cleaves DNA between two nucleosomes
What is PARPs function?
Modifies histones by catalysing the formation of ADP-ribose and by binding to the DNA strands
How does CAD normally exist in a cell?
As an inactive complex with ICAD
What inhibits PARPs function to fix DNA damage?
cleavage by caspase 3