Apoptosis in the stomach

The morphological changes occurring in a cell undergoing non-necrotic cell death were termed apoptosis by Kerr and coworkers in 1972.2 Although apoptosis is often used interchangeably today with the term “programmed cell death”, implying gene transcription and energy expenditure, in some instances the morphology of apoptosis may be achieved without activating the programmed cell death machinery.3 Semantic differences notwithstanding, apoptosis is defined by a highly characteristic sequence of morphological changes, resulting in the death of a cell without inflammatory sequelae, unlike necrotic cell death.

Cell death by apoptosis has recently been calculated to account for most, if not all, cell loss in the gastrointestinal tract,4 in contrast to earlier views that cells were shed passively into the lumen. It is thought that all cells have a default pathway ending in apoptosis, unless inhibited by specific external constraints, such as the interaction of a cell with its neighbour and/or the extracellular matrix. The phenomenon of the inevitable apoptosis of isolated cells has been termed anoikis or “death by homelessness”.5 This time dependent pathway, or “senescent” apoptosis at the end of a cell’s natural …