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Apoptosis

Condensed matter in cell death

Nature volume 401, pages 127–128 (1999)Cite this article

Since the nineteenth century, anatomists and pathologists have observed strikingly condensed nuclei with clumped, condensed chromatin (DNA complexed with proteins) as a sign of cell death. This phenomenon, termed ‘pyknosis’, is often accompanied by ‘karyorrhexis’ — fragmentation of the nucleus. Today, at the twentieth fin de siècle, these terms lose some of their mystery. For on page 168 of this issue, Sahara et al.1 report the molecular characterization of a hitherto unknown factor, Acinus (for ‘apoptotic chromatin condensation inducer in the nucleus’). This factor seems to be indispensable for nuclear pyknosis, at least in some experimental settings.

Nuclear pyknosis and karyorrhexis are near-to-definitive hallmarks of programmed cell death (apoptosis). In teleological terms, apoptosis is a type of death designed specifically to disintegrate cells in an ordered fashion, avoiding pathogenic spillover of the cell's soluble components into tissues. This is done by maintaining the barrier function of the plasma membrane. Nevertheless, there are subtle changes in this membrane, causing neighbouring cells to engulf the dying cells. So, the doomed cell is degraded within the limits of a vesicle — the phagolysosome — of another healthy cell.

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Figure 1: Apoptotic effectors that act on the nucleus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Apoptosis, Cancer and Immunity Laboratory associated with the National League against Cancer, CNRS-ERS1984, 19 rue Guy Môquet, Villejuif, F-94801, France

    Naoufal Zamzami & Guido Kroemer

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  1. Naoufal Zamzami
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  2. Guido Kroemer
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Correspondence to Guido Kroemer.

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Zamzami, N., Kroemer, G. Condensed matter in cell death. Nature 401, 127–128 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/43591

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