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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 May 15.
Published in final edited form as: J Smooth Muscle Res. 2012;48(1):1–26. doi: 10.1540/jsmr.48.1

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

Extrinsic Pathway. The binding of the death ligands to the death receptors forms a death-inducing signal complex (DISK). Procaspase 8 is autoactivated at the DISK and converted to the active form, caspase 8. Caspase 8 leads to cell apoptosis via caspase 3 activation and by truncation of Bid to tBid. IntrinsicPathway. Intrinsic pathway is activated by intracellular stimuli (e.g., ROS) and involves the formation of the pore in the OMM (Bax/Bak oligomer) and the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP). These pores release proapoptotic peptides and induce cell apoptosis.