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Hyperphagia by self- and xeno-cannibalism: Cell death by indigestion? A reminiscence of the Phedrus Fabula “Rana Rupta et Bos”?
Antonella Tinari, Paola Matarrese, Maurizio Minetti and Walter Malorni
volume 4 | issue 1
1 January 2008Pages: 128 - 130
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The occurrence of self- and xeno-cannibalism could be considered as two different aspects of the same well-regulated process. The formation of autophagosomes can represent a survival option for a cell in unfavorable conditions but it can also lead to cell demise. In fact, autophagy has been considered as an additional and clear-cut cell death pathway. We herein speculate that self-eating by autophagy could be paralleled by a cannibalistic behavior, e.g., by cell feeding of siblings, that can also become detrimental. This behavior in fact, once exacerbated, can also lead to cell death, probably bolstering intracellular oxidative imbalance. In this case, a survival option, such as self- and xeno-cannibalism, can be turned into a peculiar death option: cell death by feeding excess. Under this point of view, over-feeding cells are reminiscent of the frog in the Phedrus Fabula “Rana Rupta et Bos”.
Authors
Antonella Tinari
Istituto Superiore di Sanita
Paola Matarrese
Istituto Superiore di Sanita
Maurizio Minetti
Isituto Superiore di Sanita
Walter Malorni
Istituto Superiore di Sanita
We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:
Download PDF If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.