As necrosis progresses (left to right), protease-containing lysosomes enlarge, aggregate at the nucleus, and then fuse to surround the swollen nucleus of the dying neuron.

Lysosomes spill their guts and kill their host cells, as revealed on page 231. Artal-Sanz et al. show that cells are more likely to escape a necrotic death sentence if they contain less acidic lysosomes.

Necrosis—considered the unprogrammed counterpart to apoptotic death—is the deadly result of a severe and abrupt loss of energy, nutrients, or oxygen. These stimuli create sudden alterations in intracellular pH or ion levels that ultimately turn on destructive proteases within the cell.

Some of these proteases, such as cathepsins, work best at very low pH. Acidification of the cell occurs during necrosis. Further, a pump that acidifies lysosomes, where cathepsins are normally sequestered, is required for necrosis in worms.

The new study shows that lysosomes...

The Rockefeller University Press
2006
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
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