Lysosomes are called “suicide bags” because they contain digestive enzymes and these digestive enzymes can break down the cell’s own components.

• Normally, these enzymes work to digest foreign invaders like bacteria, worn-out organelles within cell, and unwanted cellular debris.
• But under certain circumstances, the lysosome’s membrane can be damaged or ruptured. Then these digestive enzymes leak out into the cytoplasm and start digesting the cell’s components. This uncontrolled breakdown leads to cell death. That’s why it is named as suicide bags.