Apoptosis is a process of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms.1,2 Biochemical events lead to characteristic changes in cell morphology and cell death. Morphological changes include cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, chromosomal DNA fragmentation, and mRNA decay. Apoptosis is a highly regulated process that can be initiated via the intrinsic pathway as a response to various stressors including starvation, infection, hypoxia, oxidative stress, etc. Mitochondria damage plays an important role in the initiation of apoptosis. In the extrinsic pathway, apoptosis is initiated by external signals, including tumor necrosis factor receptor family-mediated signaling. Both pathways induce cell death by activating caspase enzymes.
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