MadSci Network: Medicine |
You are right in stating that oxygen deprivation (anoxia)is responsible for cells death. The higher the metabolic activity in a cell, the shorter the duration of anoxia before the cell dies. Brain cells are known to die, in normothermic conditions, after a three minutes duration of oxygen deprivation. We can imagine a "three steps" stair regarding that: - very sensitive cells: brain, heart (a few minutes) - sensitive cells: all other organs, such as kidney, liver (from ten minutes to hours, depending on many factors such as temperature and intrinsec activity) - pauci sensitive cells: muscles, skin The less sensitive cells are those who are responsible for hair and nail growth. It is common clinical pratice to notice that beard and nails have continued to growth after the patient has died..... Hope this helps Luc Luc Ronchi, MD Ped Anesthesia Hopital de Saint-Nazaire, France
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Medicine.