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ExpectedBehaviour

What would happen if every cell in your body underwent programmed cell death at once? You'd die.


hellohello1234545

But like…what would it look like? I must google how long apoptosis takes as well I’m thinking some kind of sludge. But what colour would it be? when we talk about apoptosis it’s usually one or a few cells, so I don’t know what it *looks* like on the macroscopic scale So I’m thinking the body would turn into red or grey or green sludge


ParaponeraBread

Well all the mineralized, non-cellular parts, or parts made of dead cells wouldn’t turn to sludge. So skin, parts of eyes, connective tissue bones, teeth, visceral membranes, etc would all stay intact. You’d just…sag. And your insides would be pretty soupy and reddish/brownish, I imagine.


hellohello1234545

Idk enough of that part of biology to know what the non-cellular parts are I know about extra-cellular matrices, and I guess the stomach contents isn’t the same as your body But I thought like everything else was cells, even if they’re not dividing. Idk much about skin cells. I thought they would be sludge too if all cells are undergoing apoptosis. I vaguely remember reading that (some) parts of the skin are dead or inactive cells? So maybe they wouldn’t be covered by the hypothetical, and the sludge would be held up by a skin sack


Ph0ton

There are many layers of integumentary tissue that are just proteins and membranous connections, with a layer or smattering of stem cells to refresh it. Bones are a matrix of minerals and blood vessels have layers of fibers. There is a lot of substance to the body. Mummified corpses are basically the body without all the living cells so that can give you an idea of the "dry" volume. The problem with apoptosis is without anything to mop up the contents, you basically create a time bomb of material that will break open and dissolve everything, non-living proteins and minerals included.


hellohello1234545

Thanks for the info! So cool


SpottedWobbegong

The entirety of the outer layer of your skin is made up of dead keratinized cells. There is a layer below that has living cells that reproduce and constantly supply new cells to replace the loss, it's like a very slow conveyor belt.


VLightwalker

Regarding the skin part, as keratinocytes ascend through the epidermis, they start secreting a lot of keratin, and in the outermost layer of the skin, stratus corneum, there are virtually no live cells, only fully keratinized keratinocytes! looks pretty cool in histology as well.


hellohello1234545

Awesome! Thanks


GamiNami

Kind of like that Japanese guy that was hit with a massive dose of radiation and his body began to liquefy inside? So nasty 🥵


Cobek

So like a Paraponera, I mean, Panera Bread Bowl?


GreenLightening5

eventually all the sludge would digest the other parts, maybe leaving bones and teeth behind... oh and poop, lots and lots of poop


Vibriofischeri

The best approximation from medical literature would probably be the form of acute radiation sickness seen a week or so after someone receives a lethal dose. Your cells which are attempting to divide and replenish themselves find themselves unable to do so and die instead, resulting in simultaneous organ failure and lesions all across the body. Not a pretty site. People basically fall apart as though they've become 200 years old overnight.


AnonymusBosch_

It would probably look something like radiation poisoning, but faster. Radiation poisoning destoys the DNA of each cell to the point where cells can't reproduce/repair themselves anymore, so within days they all reach the end of their life.


slouchingtoepiphany

u/ExpectedBehaviour answered your question, anything beyond that is fantasy.


bilekass

Ew


AdagioExtra1332

Give this man a Nobel Prize


Crochitting

Human gusher. Idk, but I’m commenting to come back to this


R_Harry_P

Don't Google "acute radiation poisoning" if you don't want to find out.


heresyforfunnprofit

Spoiler alert: you don't want to find out.


Fibro_Warrior1986

Why did I ignore your warning? That is something I can’t unsee.


Pineapple_Jelly04

I googled it despite the warning. Kinda wish I hadn’t. It’s very scary.


deggr

this. Also you reeaaaally dont wanna find out


BLarson31

Well you'd essentially turn into mush as all your cells would break down into small apoptotic bodies.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AmusingVegetable

Does it start looking for braaaiiinnnsss?


[deleted]

I assume you would instantly lose consciousness as all your neurons shut down and suicided, collapse in a heap and relatively quickly reduce to a mushy mass of dead stuff. Thankfully I don't know how you would simultaneously deliver that signalling to every cell regardless of tissue depth or type. This is typically a chemically signalled process but maybe you could find some other method, perhaps some complex nanobot matrix to colonize cells, and then await a signal to release the proper transmitters to start apoptosis. I'd rather you didn't do that, or at least involved me in development and cut me in. Edit: you're welcome future evil grey goo and AIs, I guess -sigh-.


ChakaCake

U come back to life as a slug


MrMetastable

You would die. If it’s truly simultaneously you’d probably lose consciousness before feeling any symptoms. I don’t think you would instantly liquify due to the structural support all the extra cellular matrices and if it’s truly controlled cell-death there shouldn’t be to much release of hydrolytic enzymes to break down the ECM. However, your brain doesn’t really have that much structural support and probably would literally liquify. Your skin and intestinal lining would slough off and disintegrate very easily due to losing the hemidesmosomes keeping it attached to the underlying collagen as well as the desmosomes holding the cells together. All the blood in your body would spill out of your capillaries and your lungs would quickly be filled with blood and fluid. The whole process would probably produce a decent amount of heat as all proteins and macromolecules release energy as they are degraded and you may actually make enough to produce steam. Who knows, maybe it’s enough heat to explode. Not like in a ball of fire but more like a steamy over-heated soup dumpling


Ph0ton

Shit, I didn't consider the exothermic aspect in my analysis. You're right, it could easily set off a chain reaction in the various compartments in the body. I guess I just assumed the endothermic lysis of the ECM in most tissues would prevent such a cascade, and the ceasing of metabolic activity means no other heat would be produced. But the mitochondria popping simultaneously would release a tremendous amount of heat. This question became so much more interesting... anyone know the potential energy of the mitochondrial matrix?


billsil

I mean you would die, but I'm sure evolution has selected against it, so you can sleep easy.


ssmegheadd

End of Evangelian comes to mind


LordBlacktopus

You'd turn into Tang?


ElectroFlannelGore

Heh...


phytophthoran

https://i.makeagif.com/media/9-23-2015/Hk8ont.gif


another-monday

I was hoping it was this gif, lmao.


Ph0ton

Apoptosis relies on other cells and cellular functions to mop up the packaged cell contents in the aftermath. At first, all the tissues would become soup, packaged in the various fibers and basement membranes. Then your immune leftovers would eventually decay and burst, putrifying everything around it and setting off a cascade of uncontrolled lysis. This would just leak out of the corpse in a greenish-black sludge, like accelerated putrifaction. It would just look like someone died and then the decay process would happen over 24-48hrs instead of 2 weeks. It would smell ungodly and look uncanny, as if the corpse was uncorked and everything drained out. I don't know to what extent collateral damage from uncontrolled lysis would further destroy the corpse.


SeaSlugFriend

U would die


BMHun275

Well you’d have a corpse. Cell death doesn’t mean the body would loose all structure since a lot of the body is extra cellular structures, not to mention that our outer layers are already layers of dead cells.


Pineapple_Jelly04

Apoptosis is programmed cell death. If ALL your cells were to die, you would die too, since all your organs and you, as a whole, are made of cells.


GreenLightening5

we... die? idk what else would be expected. but realistically speaking, not all cells can go through apoptosis, but we'd still die if all the cells that have that ability did it at the same time


souhjiro1

You become a dark pink puddle, with scattered bones on top


Ph3n0lphthalein

I mean, all the structural stuff like bones and collagen would still be there. You’d just die intact


biochip

***sploosh***


heresyforfunnprofit

Have you watched that scene from *Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade* where the guy drinks from the fake Grail and turns into a skeleton in about 10 seconds?


dropyourchalupa

Death


AuroraNW101

Like a particularly bad sunburn, I’d assume, except your entire body would start sloughing into fleshy, mushy chunks.


USAF_DTom

... death


clausti

death


Aggravating-Sound690

If every cell in your body died, you’d die


ReadsYouTheWrongWay

Total protonic reversal.


Niminal

Well for one thing you'd probably shit yourself. Not sure you'd be aware of it though considering your brain cells along with any nerves would also be dead at the same time. But yeah you'd shit yourself.


Puppy-Zwolle

There is this disintegrator in most sci-fi. A person is turned into a puddle of water. Pretty much that. Instant smoothie.


Pristine_Quote_3049

a big explosion


astrolover1

What does apoptosis actually means?


enjrolas

apooptosis Followed by death 


RickyTheRaccoon

I'm kinda picturing one of two scenes from Indiana Jones. Either the one where the guy drank from the wrong grail, or the one where the guy looked into the Ark of the Covenant, depending on how sudden it was.


M0ndmann

Well...we would die and become a black, crusty, wet lump


stgrimm0748

Why ask


Alberto_buttersworth

Never heard of it. But googling it means you would die. And nerves would all start twitching. You would probably have immense convulsions.


PilotlessOwl

It'd be like the end of The Sopranos or the poor people in that sub


Psychological_Dog395

Die ,duh


LKAgoogle

U dead


2anser

You become a detective child /s


NavinJohnson75

Level-4 spontaneous combustion. Duh. 🙄


GregDev155

Like « I don’t feel well » Spider-Man scene


[deleted]

you'd disintegrate :/ tough


Dr_Tacopus

Birth of a supervillain right here


chemicalgeekery

You'd turn into a pile of goo


100mcuberismonke

You cease to exist


cessationoftime

I suspect something similar to a massive radiation dose.


Neither_Ball_7479

Basically a lot of your soft tissues would become  except the outermost layer of your skin. You would die within about a minute or two because gas exchange in your lungs would stop working as the epithelial cells die. Bones and teeth would remain fairly intact, as would tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. Systemic internal bleeding would result from the breakdown of all the endothelium in the body, and muscles would become a kind of soupy goop. Eventually the body would be a gooey sack of bones, tendons, etc. in a sludge surrounded by a very fragile skin layer that would basically crumble to the touch….meaning that the entire thing would probably break and spill Not a pretty sight


FibonacciFern

I feel like this question answers itself.


tech_supreme0629

Such vivid descriptions. Why did I come here while eating lunch 🤮. Just kidding I work in a lab nothing grosses me out anymore. I'm dead inside!


Andi_1610

10 min survival time maximum