If a scientist is observing a single cell under a microscope, and then realizes that the cell has died, is it possible to bring that dead cell back to life?
For my inquiry, let's assume that the death of the cell has occurred without disease or external circumstances.
Has such process ever taken place in a lab before? Thx.
Answer
There are species where cells and even whole organisms can go into a state called cryptobiosis where their metabolism is suspended but can be revived later. This usually happens when the conditions become too bad for survival (dry/cold etc.) and is reversed once the conditions improve again (rehydration warming up). One prominent and fascinating example are tardigrades.
Also, it is possible to freeze cells in liquid nitrogen where all metabolic processes are extremely slow. With modern freezing/thawing processes cell survival rates >90% are possible. However, before you ask this will not work on whole tissues let alone people!
Cryptobiosis only works for specialized species and only under certain conditions. Normally, once a cell starts to die, it either does so because it is too damaged to keep living, a process called necrosis or because apoptosis (programmed cell death) was triggered upon which its DNA is fragmented and the proteins are degraded by proteases. Neither process is reversible once started.
Note: I find your restriction "the death of the cell has occurred without disease or external circumstances" a bit puzzling and too vague. Unless something happens to them cells don't just die. Therefore I explicitly ignored this restriction until you formulate it more specifically so that it makes sense.
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