“The presence of a dead cell triggers destruction in a - TopicsExpress



          

“The presence of a dead cell triggers destruction in a neighboring cell. The cascade of cell death in C. elegans rides a wave of calcium ions that travels through the worm from front to back. The influx of calcium into a cell triggers processes that dismantle cellular structures. Lysosomes—the waste-processing centers of cells—burst and “that’s when all hell breaks loose,” as Gems puts it. The lysosome eruptions cause the cell to digest itself. The calcium ions then jump to a neighboring cell and the death wave continues." "For a long time biologists have viewed aging as something that just builds up over time: a wear-and-tear process. This study, however, shows aging and death as a triggered, controlled event. “The emerging picture,” Hansen explains, “is that there’s all these cellular processes that talk to each other…and these processes have been linked to aspects of disease that hopefully we can pin together in a cool way.”
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 01:52:52 +0000

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