In Situ Localization of Apoptosis Using TUNEL

Apoptosis is an important process both in normal biology and in various pathologies and disease states. Apoptosis in tissue or cells can be detected in a number of ways. In tissue sections, electron microscopy can identify apoptosis by cellular and nuclear morphology, and in live cells, changes in the membrane and membrane permeability allow apoptosis and necrosis to be observed. Histologically, apoptosis is best detected using the partial DNA degradation that is present in apoptotic cell nuclei. Terminal transferase-mediated UTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) has been used successfully for detection of DNA degradation in paraffin-embedded tissue sections and can be combined with immunohistochemistry if desired to allow more precise identification of apoptotic cells.