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Scientists have captured the first footage of a human white blood cell dying, giving them unprecedented insight into a key process which could lead to improved medical treatments.
“We were extremely surprised because in textbooks we are never taught about this,” said La Trobe University cell biologist Ivan Poon. “We were quite amazed that this happened and that no one had witnessed it before.”
While white blood cells are the soldiers of the body’s immune system, they don’t live forever. And despite their crucial role in fighting off disease and foreign invaders, scientists have until now had little idea about the way they died or what happened to the cell debris generated.
Taken in real-time using time-lapse microscopy, the footage reveals a dying monocyte white blood cell as it goes through a number of shape changes before dramatically ejecting some of its contents as if they were beans bursting free from a beanbag.
Researchers think that in spilling its contents, a warning signal is sent to surrounding cells – a way to let them know that something is amiss and triggering the body’s immune system into action .
“It could be alerting other cells that there is infection or a tissue injury,” Dr Poon said.
Previously researchers thought that cell death was random but after filming the process up to 40 times in cancerous cells, they realised that there are set steps a diseased cell goes through as it dies.
Full report: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/scientists-watch-a-human-cell-explode-and-die-on-camera-for-the-first-time-20150615-gho3ot.html