cell death

Question 1

what are normal cell deaths?

Answer 1

apoptosis

Question 2

what is necrosis?

Answer 2

unplanned cell death

Question 3

what happens in necrosis?

Answer 3

cells swell and burst, spilling their contents over neighbours and eliciting inflammation response

Question 4

why is necrosis bad?

Answer 4

intracellular components which may be toxic can spill out

Question 5

what is a use of apoptosis?

Answer 5

sculpting hands and feet during embryonic development

Question 6

what stimulates metamorphosis in frogs?

Answer 6

an increase in thyroid in the blood

Question 7

what does cell death do in the developing nervous system?

Answer 7

adjusts the number of nerve cells to match the number of target cells that the nerve cells connect to

Question 8

why is apoptosis important in the immune system?

Answer 8

kills cells that react with self-antigens

Question 9

what are caspases?

Answer 9

a family of protease enzymes playing essential roles in programmed cell death

Question 10

what is caspase short for?

Answer 10

cysteine-aspartic protease

Question 11

why are caspases called so?

Answer 11

due to their specific cysteine protease activity

Question 12

how is apoptosis signalled?

Answer 12

release of cytochrome c trigger a signalling cascade leading to apoptosis
negatively charged phosphatidyl serine flips to the outer leaflet leading to a membrane potential change

Question 13

what can caspade deficiency cause

Answer 13

tumour development

Question 14

where is phosphatidyl serine usually found?

Answer 14

inner leaf of plasma membrane

Question 15

where can apoptosis be signalled from?

Answer 15

inside or outside the cell