An indispensable compendium of state-of-the-art theory and detailed how-to instruction essential for understanding and studying apoptosis. The expert contributors cover such important topics as the histological, biological, and molecular criteria for apoptosis and programmed cell death; necrosis and apoptosis in the CNS; and cellular, invertebrate, animal, and human models of apoptosis in Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, and stroke. The techniques they describe examine the critical steps involved in the apoptosis process, and include PCR analysis of cell-cycle-regulated proteins, histochemical analysis of DNA regulation, DNA laddering analysis, and cytochemical alterations of living cells.