APOPTOSIS: MUERTE CELULAR PROGRAMADA. ASPECTOS ENERALES Y SU RELACIÓN CON LAS ENFERMEDADES CARDIOVASCULARES / Apoptosis: programmed cellular death. General aspects and its relation with cardiovascular diseases.

Abstract

The apoptosis is a very important and definitive form of cellular death, and has a close relation with cardiovascular diseases. A review of this topic is made in this work taking into account not only the antecedents of this process but also the general aspects involved in it. One of the main challenges for cardiovascular medicine in the next decades is to prevent the development of cardiacinsufficiency. To achieve this goal it will be necessary to increase the knowledge on the mechanisms which signal the beginning and evolution of the functional deterioration of the myocardium. The overcoming of these difficulties could turn the apoptosis into a paradigmatic example of the cellular-molecular approach which nowadays is a must for the understanding of the heart and blood vessels diseases.

Keywords

• apoptosis
• cell death
• cardiovascular diseases