In vitro detection of apoptosis in isolated vascular cells

Apoptosis is a programmed cell death process in which surplus or damaged cells are eliminated through a highly regulated procedure. The first description of apoptosis relied upon morphological differences among apoptotic, necrotic, and healthy cells (1). Indeed, there are usually a number of features of apoptotic cells, whatever their lineage, that allows rapid identification. Morphologically, the cells are seen to undergo shrinkage followed by membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation, and nuclear fragmentation. Eventually, the cells cleave off into apoptotic bodies to be phagocytosed by bystander neighboring cells or professional phagocytic cells such as macrophages.