Meanings
- uncountablemedicineA form of apoptosis associated with PARP.
Also, the lack of knowledge of mechanisms of calpain activation in parthanatos makes it difficult to identify calpain as PAR-dependent mediators of AIF release.
2008, Gary E. Gibson, Mitochondria and Oxidative Stress in Neurodegenerative Disorders2 more examples
Our results suggest that excessive activation of PARP-1 leads to an intrinsic cell death program, which we designate as parthanatos to distinguish from necrosis and apoptosis.
2006, Seong-Woon Yu, “Apoptosis-inducing factor mediates poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) polymer-induced cell death”, in PNAS, volume 103, number 48The biochemical features of parthanatos are distinct from classically defined pathways of cell death, and include rapid PARP-1 activation, early PAR accumulation, mitochondrial depolarization, early nuclear AIF translocation, loss of cellular NAD and ATP, and late caspase activation.
2010, Denson G. Fujikawa, Acute Neuronal Injury: The Role of Excitotoxic Programmed Cell Death Mechanisms
Origin
Blend of PARP + Thanatos (“Greek personification of death”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
parthanatos. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parthanatos
“parthanatos.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parthanatos. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “parthanatos,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parthanatos.
Source: parthanatos on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.