Figure 5
Morphological remodeling during CA.
(A) Schematic diagram. Step 1: a healthy cell. Step 2: an unhealthy cell with activation of suspicious molecules. Step 3: an apoptotic cell with a series of typical morphological characteristics, including nuclear condensation, nuclear pyknosis, chromosomal DNA fracture, cell shrinkage, cytoplasmic blebbing, and cytoskeletal collapse. Step 4: continuation of apoptosis along with cellular budding and apoptotic body formation, resulting in cellular disintegration into many small apoptotic body segments (yellow arrows). These small bodies are engulfed by the macrophages in vivo. Apoptosis completes the evolution cycle accordingly. (B) Experimental observations of typical morphological changes in apoptotic HepG2 cells post-irradiation, including chromatin condensation, nuclear pyknosis, karyorrhexis, fragmentation (pink arrows), plasma membrane blebbing, a disorderly arrangement and dissolution of the cytoskeleton, an enlarged F-actin filament texture, enriched vesicle-like structures, and cytoskeletal collapse or remodeling (white arrows). These changes lead to cellular budding and apoptotic body formation (approximately 0.2–2 μm). DAPI-labeled nuclei (blue) and rhodamine phalloidin-labeled cytoskeleton (red). Scale bar, 10 μm.
