[Histonet] necrosis detection

[Monfils, Paul]

Necrosis is, technically, cell death. Once a cell is dead, necrosis has
occurred. Autolysis is a post-mortem process whereby dead cells are broken
down by the release of their own autogenous enzymes. So, in the strict
sense, necrosis precedes autolysis. However, necrosis per se cannot be
directly observed. A cell that has just died is still visually identical to
a living cell. What we commonly refer to as "necrosis" in a tissue section
is not merely cell death, but the accumulation of postmortem changes whereby
we can visually identify cells as dead. Such postmortem changes are largely
the result of autolysis. So in that sense "necrosis", or more properly
"necrotic change", results from, rather than precedes, autolysis.