Abstract

When stressed beyond their tolerance, cells undergo necrosis, an acute, non-apoptotic form of cell death. Necrosis is crucial to the damage that injury and disease inflict on the nervous system. Recent discoveries have shed light onto the molecular requirements for necrosis, and provide new evidence that, as is the case for apoptosis, the mechanisms of necrotic cell death are conserved from nematodes to humans. But in contrast to apoptotic mechanisms, necrotic mechanisms did not evolve specifically to carry out necrosis. Instead, under extreme circumstances, normal cellular activities are destabilized with devastating consequences for the cell. Here, we review the mechanisms that are implicated in necrosis and discuss the events that transform them to catastrophic for cell survival.

Author affiliations

1. Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology, Vassilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1527, Heraklion 71110, Crete, Greece.

Correspondence to: Nektarios Tavernarakis¹ Email: tavernarakis@imbb.forth.gr