ABSTRACT
Cells are active participants in their environment and thus constantly adjusting structure and function to extracellular demands or stressors resulting from organismal needs or from outside. Beside structural or functional adjustments, developmental processes or physiological adaptations can cause death of cells. It is of significant importance during development of organisms, and it occurs in the context of stressors such as toxicology, oxygen deprivation or infection, as a result of irreversible injury. A concept of cell death was developed in the 19th century together with cell theory; and during the 20th century, cell death was characterized morphologically (reviewed by Majno and Joris, 1995).
