Figure 6. p-ERK activated in cells neighboring the dying cell promotes survival.

1. Whole villus imaging of p-ERK “flower petal” ring pattern surrounding a dying cell, as indicated by the yellow arrows.
2. Example CC3⁺ cells surrounded directly by clusters of p-ERK⁺ neighbors (yellow arrows); an example of contraction-dependent closure by p-ERK⁺ cells after dying cell has been extruded (red arrow).
3. Flow cytometry of CC3⁺ cells induced by TNF-α under conditions of control, MEK inhibition, and MEK and P38 inhibition. Quantified in C′ with error bars representing SEM from n = 3 animals. Unpaired t-test was used to determine statistical significance. **P ≤ 0.01.
4. Model of cell death-dependent activation of survival signaling in neighboring cells. Direct neighbors to the dying cell are instructed to survive to prevent contiguous patches of cell death unrecoverable by simple contraction-dependent closure.