Distinction of apoptotic and necrotic cell death by in situ labelling of fragmented DNA

The occurrence and spatial distribution of intracellular DNA fragmentation was investigated by in situ 3′ end labelling of DNA breaks in K562 cells treated in such a way to cause either apoptotic or necrotic cell death. The localisation of DNA breaks was examined by confocal laser microscopy and compared with the electron-microscopic appearance of the cells. In addition, the number of cells with fragmented DNA was counted and compared with the...