In vitro Evaluation of Cytarabin Induced Apoptosis in Leukemic Blasts.

Apoptosis, or active cell death, is a specific mode of cell death, which is characterized by morphological changes such as chromatin condensation, fragmentation of the nucleus, cytoplasmic retraction and appearance of apoptotic bodies' containing apparently intact organelles. Apoptosis occurs in physiological conditions as a regulatory mechanism of tissue growth, where cell proliferation is balanced. The aim of this research was to study the ability of Fas to initiate apoptosis in vitro before and after treatment with Cytarabin on tissue culture and to correlate the response.