Fig. 3

Relationships between different extents of stress and different cell death modes. Very mild stress may impel cellular aging, leading to an earlier SD of the affected cells. Stress may also hasten apoptosis, although this conjecture still lacks concrete supporting evidence since few in vivo studies focus on unadulterated apoptosis. A stronger stress may cause SIaLCD and an even stronger stress may cause SInLCD with more dead cells exceeding the clearance capacity of scavenger cells and decaying to cellular shards to agitate inflammation. A severe stress will directly kill cells via necrosis