Cell Death and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Apoptosis, Necrosis, and Autophagy in the Intestinal Epithelium

Figure 1

The three major pathways of cell death. Cells can be directed to different programmed cell death mechanisms depending on several factors. In the left, the apoptosis pathway is represented with the characteristic cellular shrinkage and formation of the apoptotic bodies without leakage of contents. In the middle, the necrotic pathway shows the cytosol and organelle swelling and rupture of plasma membrane with subsequent leakage of cellular contents. In the right, autophagy is illustrated with the appearance of vacuoles, the autophagosome, and its fusion with the lysosome, which ends in organelle digestion.