Figure 1.

The stages of apoptosis. This diagram illustrates the four basic stages of the apoptotic pathway. Once the cell has reached stage two and the caspase pathway has been activated it is believed that the process is irreversible and the cell cannot be rescued. After stage three, if the cell is in close enough proximity to a phagocytic neighbour and is displaying the right molecular signature it is engulfed and broken down within the phagocyte. If the apoptotic cell is not recognised it will eventually assume necrotic morphology, so called “secondary necrosis”.