Multicellular organisms are not created through cell proliferation alone. It is through cell death that an indefinite cellular mass is pared back to reveal its true form. Cells are also lost throughout life as part of homeostasis and through injury. This detritus represents a significant burden to the living organism and must be cleared, most notably through the use of specialized phagocytic cells. Our understanding of these phagocytes and how they engulf cell corpses has been greatly aided by studying the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster Here we review the contribution of Drosophila research to our understanding of how phagocytes respond to cell death. We focus on the best studied phagocytes in the fly: the glia of the central nervous system, the ovarian follicle cells, and the macrophage-like hemocytes. Each is explored in the context of the tissue they maintain as well as how they function during development and in response to injury.

中文翻译：

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吞噬细胞对苍蝇细胞死亡的反应。

多细胞生物不是仅通过细胞增殖产生的。正是通过细胞死亡，无限期的细胞团被削减以显示其真实形式。作为体内平衡和受伤的一部分，细胞也会在整个生命中丢失。这种碎屑对生物体来说是一个重大负担，必须清除，最明显的是通过使用专门的吞噬细胞。通过研究果蝇黑腹果蝇，我们对这些吞噬细胞以及它们如何吞噬细胞尸体的理解得到了极大的帮助。在这里，我们回顾了果蝇研究对我们理解吞噬细胞如何响应细胞死亡的贡献。我们专注于研究最好的果蝇吞噬细胞：中枢神经系统的胶质细胞、卵巢滤泡细胞和巨噬细胞样血细胞。