Back From The Dead

The article discusses the concept of apoptosis, which is induced cell death. Apoptosis is a necessary part of human growth but apoptosis can sometimes kill too many cells after conditions such as heart attacks or stroke. The scientist in this study wanted to understand this process to help resolve the issue of the wrong cells being killed. The scientist exposed mice liver cells to ethanol which can cause apoptosis. The cells began the process of apoptosis and soon showed signs of dying but when the ethanol was washed away, the cells went back to their normal conformation and regained their organelles. The scientist also observed this in the heart cells of rats and the brain cells of mice. They named this process, of a cell coming back to normal function after the initiation of an apoptotic trigger, anastatis. The scientist observed that it was not only the physical appearance that went back to normal conformation but also the organelles and gene activity patters went back to normal. The scientist observed that DNA that had been sliced had reformed when the trigger was removed. There were come occurrences though when the cells grew back abnormally when the apoptotic trigger was removed.

I found this article interesting because apoptosis was a process we had discussed in class. Not only that, but the idea that we can prevent cell death seems useful in the medical field. Through apoptosis, certain cells can be targeted for cell death and if we discover that the wrong cells are dying, we could potentially recover those cells. It could be used to kill infected cells and revive the healthy ones when viruses infect the body. It could also be useful in cancer research. Apoptosis and anastatis can be used to kill cancer cells and prevent good cells from dying. From the looks of the article though, more research would need to be done. If we used this in medicine there would always be the risk of creating abnormal cells that could lead to cancer.  It will be interesting to see what more they discover and if they can use this process to kill off infected cells and viruses in the body and keep healthy cells from dying.

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