What is the definition of apoptosis?

Apoptosis is a natural and normal part of an organism’s growth and development. It is defined as programmed cell death and is characterized by a series of specific morphological cellular changes. These changes occur in a highly-controlled manner as to not incur any additional damages to neighboring cells or adverse inflammatory responses.

Common morphological changes that occur during apoptosis include:

• Loss of membrane asymmetry
• Caspase activation
• Loss of mitochondrial membrane potential
• Nuclear condensation
• DNA fragmentation
• Membrane blebbing