APOPTOSIS IN THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

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Abstract
Apoptotic cells undergo a characteristic cascade of biochemical events (see Regulation of apoptosis), many of which are useful in detecting apoptotic cells. In particular, apoptotic cells expose specific membrane phospholipids that can be detected with labelled marker proteins (for example, phosphatidylserine detected with fluorescently labelled annexin V) and cleave their DNA into specific fragments that are the basis for the enzyme linked assays to detect fragmented DNA (for example, terminal UTP nick end labelling, or TUNEL). Biochemical signalling during apoptosis, such as activation or cleavage of specific caspase enzymes (see below) can also be used on both cells and tissue samples. While helpful, the gold standard for detecting apoptosis is still based on morphology at both the light and particularly the electron microscopic level, where the features outlined in table 1 are easily distinguished.