# Life after death - on the cellular level

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-after-death-on-the-cellular-level/357233>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 18, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-after-death-on-the-cellular-level/357233 "2006-05-18T05:22:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-after-death-on-the-cellular-level/357233/1 "2006-05-18T05:22:32Z")

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I’m wondering how long the individual cells in various tissues can continue to function after death. I assume that tissues with low oxygen needs can continue functioning for at least some period once the circulatory system stops working - is that true? Do, say, skin cells continue to do their thing for a few minutes or hours without fresh blood flow? Or does everything basically shut down pretty quickly?