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karyorrhexis

Thursday 29 September 2016

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Definition: Karyorrhexis is the destructive fragmentation of the nucleus of a dying cell whereby its chromatin is distributed irregularly throughout the cytoplasm.

It is usually preceded by pyknosis and can occur as a result of either programmed cell death (apoptosis ), senescence, or necrosis .

In apoptosis , the cleavage of DNA is done by Ca2+ and Mg2+ -dependent endonucleases.

Examples

 karyorrhexis of polymophonuclear cells

See also

 nuclear anomalies