Jonah Lewis

Block C

AP Biology

Apoptosis and Mitosis

Apoptosis is the programmed death of cells in an organism. As opposed to other

types of cell death apoptosis is neither unplanned nor traumatic to the health of the

organism as a whole. While cell death caused by injury or other trauma causes

inflammation in nearby cells, compromising the health of cells in the entire tissue or

organ, apoptosis is localized. Apoptosis destroys cells from the inside, and the remains

are quickly digested by phagocytes in order to protect the organism from the cell

fragments. Apoptosis occurs as a result of cell signaling, as signals tell the cell to destroy

itself. This causes enzymes and other proteins to be released from the mitochondria and

into the cytoplasm where they began to destroy the cell. The cell is destroyed in a variety

of ways, including cell shrinkage, nucleus and chromosomal fragmentation, and

deformation of the plasma membrane.

This process helps regulate the process of mitosis. Mitosis is the division of cells

to create two genetically identical daughter cells. Mitosis is always occurring in an

organism, as the organisms grows, repairs damaged tissue, and replaces damaged cells.

Apoptosis rids the organism of damaged cells, allowing other cells to replace them with

healthier cells via mitosis. Density-dependent inhibition is a process which crowded cells

stop dividing, so no new cells will be created from mitosis when damaged cells crowd the

tissue. Apoptosis stops this inhibition by destroying the damaged cells, allowing room
and resources for the daughter cells of healthy replicating cells. Apoptosis is also a

regulatory force for mitosis in that it does not generally allow mutated cells to divide.

Apoptosis will often kill genetically mutated or injured cells, so that they do not undergo

mitosis, often stifling possible build ups of mutated cells.

One major exception to this regulatory process by apoptosis is cancer. Cancerous

cells are defined by both their genetic damage, and their inability to stop dividing.

Thus in many ways cancer is the cause of a failure of apoptosis. Apoptosis fails to occur

in cancerous cells, thus they remain in the body without being destroyed by the normal

internal self destruction system. Without being destroyed cancerous cells are allowed to

replicate, without regulation, and grow into dangerous tumors. Cancerous cells lack the

inhibition of other cells to stop mitotically reproducing; Apoptosis is also not present in

cancer cells, as evidenced by their constant reproduction. Mitosis can be as dangerous as

it can be beneficial for an organism. Although it is clearly needed for growth, repair, and

replacement, unregulated mitosis can lead to dangerous complications in an organism.

Apoptosis allows for regulation of mitosis in normal cells, contributing to the health of

organisms. Cancer cells do bypass this important regulatory destruction of cells, and a

crucial part of cancer research is to understand why these cells lack the ability to destroy

themselves in face of mutations, and stop their own divisions before they can divide into

a tumor.