Apoptosis Apoptosis is generally considered as programmed cell death whereas necrosis signifies unprogrammed cell death. It is not clear whether the distinction is quite so simple but there is a suite of morphological features that characterize apoptosis. Apoptotic cells lose substrate attachment and become rounded.
Cells shrink, condense their chromatin, and display membrane blebbing.
Apoptotic cells fragment their DNA into approximately 200 base-pair fragments. At the end of apoptosis, the cell is broken into multiple apoptotic bodies that are phagocytized by neighboring cells. Thus these morphological changes are the outward manifestations of the cell systematically dismantling itself and packaging itself up in membrane bound vesicles to be absorbed by neighboring cells. Because cellular contents are not released, this occurs with little inflammation. Apoptosis is an essential component of normal development and homeostasis as well as being critical for eliminating diseased or damaged cells.