Hutchins J B, Barger S W
University of Mississippi Medical Center, Department of Neurology, USA.
Anat Rec. 1998 Jun;253(3):79-90. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0185(199806)253:3<79::AID-AR4>3.0.CO;2-9.
It is likely that humans are born with all of the nerve cells (neurons) that will serve them throughout life. For all practical purposes, when our neurons die, they are lost forever. During nervous system development, about one-and-a-half times the adult number of neurons are created. These "extra" neurons are then destroyed or commit suicide. This process of programmed cell death occurs through a series of events termed apoptosis and is an appropriate and essential event during brain development. Later in life, inappropriate neuronal cell death may result from pathological causes such as traumatic injury, environmental toxins, cardiovascular disorders, infectious agents, or genetic diseases. In some cases, the death occurs through apoptosis. In other cases, cell death is random, irreversible, and uncontrollable; to distinguish it from the controlled, planned cell death of apoptosis, we call this necrotic cell death. Understanding the difference between apoptotic and necrotic cell death is essential for designing therapies which will prevent or limit inappropriate cell death in the nervous system.
人类很可能在出生时就拥有了将伴随其一生的所有神经细胞（神经元）。实际上，当我们的神经元死亡时，它们就永远消失了。在神经系统发育过程中，生成的神经元数量约为成人数量的1.5倍。这些“额外”的神经元随后会被破坏或自我毁灭。这种程序性细胞死亡过程通过一系列称为细胞凋亡的事件发生，并且是大脑发育过程中适当且必不可少的事件。在生命后期，不适当的神经元细胞死亡可能由诸如创伤性损伤、环境毒素、心血管疾病、感染因子或遗传疾病等病理原因引起。在某些情况下，细胞死亡是通过细胞凋亡发生的。在其他情况下，细胞死亡是随机的、不可逆的且无法控制的；为了将其与细胞凋亡的可控、计划性细胞死亡区分开来，我们将这种细胞死亡称为坏死性细胞死亡。了解凋亡性和坏死性细胞死亡之间的区别对于设计能够预防或限制神经系统中不适当细胞死亡的疗法至关重要。
