APOPTOSIS - REGULATION AND RELEVANCE TO TOXICOLOGY

1 Apopotosis is a remarkably stereotyped morpholgical event across all tissues in response to a vast array of damaging agents. 2 Our very existence depends upon a willing exchange of old Life for new: apoptotic cell death is our guardian and saviour from genetic damage. 3 There is a close link between cell proliferation and apoptosis: When a cell picks up the machinery to proliferate it also acquires an abort pathway - 'better dead than wrong' 4 A wide variety of highly conserved genes have been implicated in triggering apoptosis. 5 The release of DNA loops from the nuclear scaffold is a more crucial intracellular event than DNA 'laddering' in apoptotic cells. 6 The manipulation of apoptotic rates in many of the common diseases in man will be a major therapeutic strategy in the future.