Skip to main content
Fig. 1 | BMC Bioinformatics

Fig. 1

From: Game of neutrophils: modeling the balance between apoptosis and necrosis

Fig. 1

Biological Mechanism to Evolutionary Game Theory Mapping. In the case of an insult or presence of inflammation triggering moieties in the tissue, neutrophils circulating the bloodstream enter the tissue through the endothelial barrier. After the inflammation is fully neutralized by the neutrophils, they go into a programmed death called apoptosis, which has anti-inflammatory effects on the system. However, if the insult is too intense or persistent, the neutrophils take on a violent death pathway called necrosis that involves spilling out all of its cytoplasmic contents into the surrounding tissue, causing local tissue damage and further aggravating inflammation. The table on the left summarizes the payoff matrix of the game that the neutrophils play. In the event that both players play necrosis, each of them suffers a cost of cNecrosis, pertaining to the local tissue damage each one endures. However, in the case when both players play apoptosis, each one of them receives the benefit of apoptosis from itself as well as from the neutrophil it is playing with, garnering a payoff to a total of 2bApoptosis

Back to article page