Autophagy vs. Apoptosis

Autophagynoun

(biology) The process of self-digestion by a cell through the action of enzymes originating within the same cell. Often a defensive and/or self-preservation measure.

Autophagynoun

(biology) A type of programmed cell death accomplished through self-digestion.

Autophagynoun

(rare) Self-consumption; the act of eating oneself.

Autophagynoun

The feeding of the body upon itself, as in fasting; nutrition by consumption of one's own tissues.

Autophagy

Autophagy (or autophagocytosis) (from the Ancient Greek αὐτόφαγος autóphagos, meaning and κύτος kýtos, meaning ) is the natural, conserved degradation lysosome-dependent regulated mechanism of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components. It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components.

Apoptosisnoun

A process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.

Apoptosisnoun

a type of cell death in which the cell uses specialized cellular machinery to kill itself; a cell suicide mechanism that enables metazoans to control cell number and eliminate cells that threaten the animal's survival

Apoptosis

Apoptosis (from Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις, apóptōsis, ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death.