The frequent rupture of the outer mitochondrial membrane seen in apoptotic cells results of the loss of the selective permeability of the inner mitochondrial membrane wich covers a swollen mitochondrial matrix herniating, through yhe rupture, to the cytoplasm. This is the morphology of the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) - Sesso, Antonio; Marques, Márcia M.; Monteiro, Maria M. T.; Schumacher, Robert I.; Colquhoun, Alison; Belizário, José Ernesto; Konno, Sérgio N.; Felix, Tahis B.; Botelho, Luis A. A.; Santos, Vanessa Z. C.; Silva, Guilherme R. da; Higuchi, Maria de L.; et al. (Congress of the Brazilian Society for Cell Biology, 2004)