When brain tissue is damaged, whether through infection or
trauma, cells that are still capable of some modicum amount of metabolic function
will commit slow suicide. This process is called apoptosis.
Apoptosis is a kind of active neuron death in which the
neuron, once damaged, shrinks and packages the debris into vesicles where it
can be safely removed and redistributed, thus avoiding inflammation and damage
to nearby neurons.
Neurons that are too far gone for apoptosis have no choice
but to undergo necrosis instead. Necrosis is a passive process in which the
damaged cell swells and disintegrates through fragmentation, leading to inflammation
that can spread the damage to other healthy neurons in the vicinity. Necrosis
happens rapidly whereas apoptosis takes more time.
Most visions of the end of civilization are necrotic ones, outlooks
that envision massive destruction, widespread ecological devastation, and immense
pain and suffering. But the very tissues of our brains tell us that we have other
options.
