#autolysis

• Autodigestion — A physiological or pathological process by which an organism, tissue, or cell destroys and digests its own structures or constituents under the action of endogenous proteolytic enzymes; a destructive cellular phenomenon associated with severe autophagy or enzymatic necrosis.
• Autolytic — Pertaining to or involving autolysis; that destroys, decomposes, or digests its own cells or tissues via intracellular enzymes (such as lysosomal ones) released after cell death or during programmed physiological processes. In biochemistry and histopathology, the term describes an intrinsic self-destructive process, essential in necrosis, apoptosis, or in the post-mortem degradation of biological samples that were not fixed properly in time.
• Autolysis — A spontaneous and aseptic biological process of self-destruction, decomposition, or digestion of animal or vegetable cells and tissues, carried out by their own intracellular enzymes (especially lysosomal hydrolases) released following cell death or metabolic arrest. In forensic medicine, it represents the first stage of post-mortem decay, while in food biochemistry, it is a controlled phenomenon essential for meat aging or yeast fermentation.
• Autoproteolysis — A biochemical process of spontaneous and autonomous cleavage, degradation, or enzymatic digestion of proteins within a cell or organic tissue, executed by the organism's own proteolytic enzymes (proteases, peptidases). This endogenous structural phenomenon occurs in a controlled manner during autophagy and cellular turnover, but can be triggered destructively and uncontrollably in pathological states of ischemia, acute inflammation, or immediately following cell death (post-mortem necrosis).