Recent reports emphasize the ultrastructural delineation of multiple features
of nuclear and cytoplasmic morphology to allow creating multiple
possible categories of cell death.
4
The main distinction is between (1)
necrotic
cells
showing swelling of cytoplasm and nucleus with retention of the shape
of the nucleus; and vacuolation and loss of ultrastructural integrity of cell
membrane, organelles, and cytoplasmic membranes, and nucleus; and (2)
apoptotic cells
showing condensation of nucleus and cytoplasm with early
nuclear changes in chromatin and convoluted nuclear membrane, and relative
preservation of cell membrane, of organelles such as mitochondria and
of cytoplasmic structures (apoptosis). A third type of degeneration was noted
with shared features between apoptosis and necrosis, namely, early nuclear
changes and vacuolar changes in the cytoplasm.