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Updated: Jan 14, 2026

Characterization of MLKL-mediated Plasma Membrane Rupture in Necroptosis
Published on: August 7, 2018
Extrinsic apoptosis and necroptosis in telencephalic development: a single-cell mass cytometry study
Jiachen Shi1,2, Weile Liu1,2, Alison Song1
1Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
None:
Regulated cell death is integral to sculpting the developing brain, yet the relative contributions of extrinsic apoptosis and necroptosis remain unclear. Here, we leverage single-cell mass cytometry (CyTOF) to characterize the cellular landscape of the mouse telencephalon in wild-type (WT), RIPK3 knockout (RIPK3 KO), and RIPK3/Caspase-8 double knockout (DKO) mice. Strikingly, combined deletion of RIPK3 and Caspase-8 leads to a 12.6% increase in total cell count, challenging the prevailing notion that intrinsic apoptosis exclusively governs developmental cell elimination. Detailed subpopulation analysis reveals that DKO mice display selective enrichment of Tbr2⁺ intermediate progenitors and endothelial cells, underscoring distinct, cell type-specific roles for extrinsic apoptotic and necroptotic pathways. These findings provide a revised framework for understanding the coordinated regulation of cell number during telencephalic development and suggest potential mechanistic links to neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by aberrant cell death.
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