Mechanisms of Cell Death: Apoptosis, Autophagy, and Necrosis Flashcards
Programmed cell death
-i.e. death by suicide
Apoptosis
Catabolic process involving the degradation of a cell’s own components through the lisosomal machinery
-i.e. Death by self-cannibalism
Autophagy
Defined as the premature death of cells by external factors
-i.e. Death by accident or murder
Necrosis
Most of what we know about apoptosis was discovered in
C. elegans
An integral part of both plan and animal tissue development
Apoptosis
In C. elegans, out of 1090 somatic cells, 131 of them underwent apoptosis. The different cells died at different times in
-remarkably accurate
Development
In normal development, apoptosis is required for
Tissue sculpting
Apoptosis is important in the immune system after infection for for eliminating used
T and B cells
A balance between proliferation and cell death is required to maintain
Tissue homeostasis
Crucial for eliminating cells that have been damaged by UV, radiation, chemical toxins, or viral infection
-i.e. it can prevent cancer
Apoptosis
An example of apoptosis function during tissue development is the development of the
Fingers and toes
Problems in apoptosis during finger and toe development results in
-2 or more fingers/toes are joined together
Syndactily
Lack of apoptosis during embryo development also disrupts
Normal brain development
Humans who are born with tails have deficiencies in
Apoptosis
What are five morphological markers of apoptosis?
- ) Electron dense nucleus
- ) Nuclear fragmentation
- ) Large, clear vacuoles
- ) Blebs at the surface
- ) Loss of cell adhesion
What is one very common biochemical marker of apoptosis?
Phosphatidylserine flipping from inner leaflet to outer leaflet
Phosphatidylserine flipping from inner leaflet to outer leaflet enables
Apoptotic cells to enter cell
Enables us to track nicks in DNA
Terminal Transferase dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL)
Used to add labeled dUTP to 3’ terminal end of the DNA fragments
Terminal Transferase
Highly sensitive and can detect fewer than 100 cells
-Fast: can be completed in 3 hours
TUNEL Assay
Has high reproducibility with good precision
TUNEL Assay
One of the disadvantages of TUNEL Assays are that we don’t know the minimum number of strand breaks necessary for detection. Thus we may miss the
Early stages of apoptosis
Designed to detect apoptotic cells that undergo extensive DNA degradation during the late stages of apoptosis
-Based on the ability of dUPT to label blunt ends of double-stranded DNA breaks independent of a template
Terminal Transferase dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL Assay)
Can generate false positives in a TUNEL assay
Necrotic cells
Another disadvantage of a TUNEL assay is that the detergent used to permeabilize cells can make them
Frgile
A distinctive feature of DNA degraded by caspase-activated DNAse (CAD)
DNA laddering
Cleaves genomic DNA at internucleosomal linker regions, resulting in DNA fragments that are multiples of 180-185 bps in length
Caspase-activated DNAse (CAD)
Must be cleaved to become active
Caspases
What are the two major apoptotic pathways?
- ) Cell-extrinsic pathway
2. ) Cell-intrinsic pathway
The key enzymes that give rise to all of the morphological and biochemical changes arising from apoptosis
Caspases
What are the two types of apoptotic caspases?
- ) Initiator (apical) caspases (#’s 2, 8, 9, and 10)
2. ) Effector (executioner) caspases (#’s 3, 6, and 7)
Regulated at a post-translational level, ensuring that they can be rapidly activated
Caspases
What are the steps of the caspase cascade?
Pro-apoptotic stimulus —> initiator caspases —> effector caspases —> apoptosis
Initiator caspase is activated by
2 proteolytic cleavages
Initiator caspase then cleaves and activates
Effector caspase
Cleaves nuclear lamins, inhibitors of DNAases, and Actin
Effector Caspases
The intrinsic apoptosis pathway is also known as the
Mitochondrial mediated pathway
The extrinsic apoptosis pathway is also known as the
Death receptor mediated pathway
Family of proteins that regulates the integrity of the mitochondrial membrane
BCL2