Measurement of Cell Death in Culture

Cells can die via two distinct pathways, apoptosis and necrosis. Cells that are exposed to severe traumatizing conditions usually undergo an uncontrolled swelling and lyse via necrosis (1 ). However, a cell dying under less traumatizing conditions has limited control over its own demise and utilize a mode of programmed cell death (apoptosis) first characterized by Kerr et al. (2 ). It has been demonstrated that cells undergoing apoptosis usually share a number of common features, such as cell shrinkage, externalization of phosphatidylserine, nuclear condensation, nuclear fragmentation, and degradation of the DNA into nucleosomal fragments (3 –5 ).