Systematic alteration of apoptosis: a review with ultrastructural observations on leukemia cells in vivo.

The ultrastructural characteristics of apoptosis have been described microscopically for four decades. Alterations of nuclei, apoptotic bodies, cytoplasm, and some organelles have been illustrated and investigated during apoptosis. The successive changes of cellular components corresponding with differentiation of apoptotic cells are illustrated in the present review, based on ultrastructural observation of leukemia cells of patients in our routine clinic work by transmission electron microscopy. Most electron micrographs demonstrated that membranous components of nuclear envelop, rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, and mitochondria were degenerated step by step during apoptosis. The successive images suggested that the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus were transferred to cell surface from cytoplasm and participated in formation of apoptotic bodies in apoptosis, although relevant clinical data and more experimental evidence were needed for restraining of leukemia cases from diagnostic work randomly in recent decades.