Apoptosis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Apoptosis - Research Paper Example In an average human being almost 50 to 70 billion cells and in a child about 20 billion to 30 billion are damaged and they die due to apoptosis in a single day. It is not just a biological phenomena , all the defective apoptotic processes are linked with a lot of other diseases and also an excess of apoptosis can lead to atrophy and if the amount is less or insufficient , it can cause cancer which is due to cell proliferation (Al-Rubeai, Mohamed, and Martin Fussenegger,2004). Discovery and Etymology The process was initially described in 1842 by Carl Vogt and during the year 1885 Walther Flemming was the person who in more detail described this programmed cell death process. The difference between other traumatic cell deaths and apoptosis was identified by John Foxton Ross who was with University of Queensland at that time. There is a lot of work done by various people from Sydney Bernner, John E Sulston and even Horvitz who received Nobel prize during the year 2000 for their own apo ptosis. Apoptosis is basically a multi path and multi step death program of the cells which is inherited in all the cells of the body. During the process of cancer, the cell division ratio is altered. The word apoptosis is taken from a Greek word which means the â€Å"dropping off† of the leaves and petals from the trees and also plants. The term was reintroduced by Professor Cormack of Greek language for medical usage. Process Different range and variety of cell signals control the process of apoptosis which originates intracellular and sometimes even extracellular signals. The extracellular signals include hormones, nitric oxide, hormones, cytokines and also various growth factors which are transduced through the effect of a response and sometimes crossed through the plasma membrane. These signals can have negative and also positive impact on the apoptosis. There are positive and also negative inductions, when the active repression and also inhibition of apoptosis occurs th rough a molecule that is negative induction; where as the triggering and binding of the apoptosis through molecule is the positive induction. Stress is the major factor which makes the cell initiate intracellular apoptotic signaling which causes cell suicide. Various factors results in regulating apoptosis, which include poly ADP ribose polymerase. The cell death is caused through the enzymes and before that there are apoptotic signals which enable the regulatory proteins to instigate the pathway of apoptosis. Mitochondrial regulation Mitochondria are important and crucial factor linked with the multi cellular life because in its absence the cell is ceased and thus it will not be able to respire aerobically and it will quickly die. This is the major cause of the apoptotic pathways. Mitochondria is targeted by the apoptotic proteins in various ways which can cause the swelling of mitochondria which causes the formation of the membrane pores and they also increase the mitochondrial me mbrane permeability and it can also be a major reason of leaking out of the apoptotic factors. Apoptosis is activated through the nitric oxide which initiates the possible action of a signal molecule linked with the succeeding pathway.