When the organism dies, as signaled by the cessation of the heartbeat and respiration, not all body cells die simultaneously, though many begin to ail within minutes or hours. Their mitochondria swell, their disabled proteins are not replaced, their cell membranes start to leak. Macrophages and other phagocytes, which are not wholly dependent on the bloodstream for nutrients, may last slightly longer and perhaps enjoy a brief orgy as they rush around devouring damaged cells, but they too soon succumb to the lack of oxygen from circulating blood. Bacteria from the gut—collectively known as the
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