Potential use of 99mTc-annexin v imaging in ischemically damaged myocardium

摘要

Four decades ago, the term apoptosis was introduced by Kerr etal. as a special form of cell death different from necrosis [1]. Necrosis is characterized by irreversible loss of plasma membrane integrity with cell swelling and rupture after sudden severe insults that preclude adequate homeostatic energy-dependent cell functions, leading to the release of intracellular contents and a subsequent inflammatory response. In contrast to necrosis, apoptosis is characterized morphologically by the condensation of nuclear chromatin, cytoplasmic condensation, cell shrinkage, followed by the nuclear and cellular fragmentation and phagocytosis of apoptotic bodies by neighboring cells in the absence of inflammation.