PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Francis G. Blankenberg
AU  - H. William Strauss
TI  - Recent Advances in the Molecular Imaging of Programmed Cell Death: Part I—Pathophysiology and Radiotracers
AID  - 10.2967/jnumed.112.108944
DP  - 2012 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine
PG  - 1659--1662
VI  - 53
IP  - 11
4099  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/53/11/1659.short
4100  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/53/11/1659.full
SO  - J Nucl Med2012 Nov 01; 53
AB  - In humans, apoptosis (programmed cell death) is the most common form of cell death after necrosis. Apoptosis is a series of genetically preprogrammed biochemical and morphologic energy-requiring events that, after a specific external or internal stimulus, results in the physiologic disappearance of a cell via its self-disintegration and packaging of its contents into membrane vesicles called apoptotic bodies. Apoptotic bodies can readily be ingested, with their nutrients and even organelles recycled by neighboring cells or phagocytes without local inflammation. In contrast, necrosis is characterized by the primary loss of plasma membrane integrity and the uncontrolled release of a cell’s contents, often causing local inflammation, tissue damage, and scarring. Alternate forms of cell death also exist, associated with specific molecular mechanisms involving enzymes, organelles, genes, external stimuli, or blockade of normal cell proliferation. In this review we will briefly outline the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis that can be imaged with radiotracers now under development.