Cellular Adaptation, Injury, and Death Practice Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers concepts of cellular adaptation, injury mechanisms, types of cell death (necrosis and apoptosis), and the physiological changes associated with somatic death.

Homeostasis

A dynamic interplay of processes that maintains physiological variables within their normal ranges; part of normal physiology.

Compensation

Making up for a defect, usually by moving some parameters outside their normal range; may be beneficial in the short term but often is detrimental in the long term.

Atrophy (Cellular)

An adaptive response where cells decrease in size.

Hypertrophy

An adaptive response characterized by an increase in cell size.

Hyperplasia

An adaptive response characterized by an increase in the number of cells.

Metaplasia

An adaptive response where one cell type is converted into another cell type.

Dysplasia

A response to injury where cells exhibit abnormal development; it does not appear to have a positive adaptive benefit.

Intracellular Accumulations

Build-up of substances within a cell that may or may not be reversible, such as fatty change.

Reversible Cell Swelling (Hydropic injury)

A cellular injury that may reverse if the cause is removed or progress to irreversible cell injury and death.

Necrosis

A pathological process causing cell death that usually affects large numbers of cells, involves cell membrane rupture, and causes inflammation.

Coagulative necrosis

A type of necrotic tissue appearance typically found in the heart, kidney, and most other tissues.

Liquefactive necrosis

A type of necrotic tissue appearance found in the brain or areas of bacterial infection with pus formation.

Fat necrosis

A type of necrotic tissue appearance occurring in adipose tissue.

Caseous necrosis

A type of necrotic tissue appearance specifically due to pulmonary tuberculosis.

Gangrene

A large area of tissue that became necrotic from loss of blood supply and has been influenced by its environment.

Dry gangrene

A form of gangrene characterized by coagulative necrosis, such as in the toes.

Wet gangrene

A form of gangrene involving liquefactive necrosis, often due to bacterial infection of tissue (e.g., in the bowel).

Gas gangrene

Coagulative necrosis of muscle infected by bacteria that produce gas.

Apoptosis

Programmed cell death; a normal physiologic process that removes unwanted, redundant, or damaged cells one at a time without causing inflammation.

Caspases

Enzymes activated inside a cell during apoptosis that dismantle cellular components in an orderly fashion.

Apoptotic bodies

Membrane-bound vesicles that package cell components during apoptosis to be disposed of by phagocytic cells.

Telomeres

Bright spots visible at the ends of chromosomes that shorten when a normal cell divides and are important in cell aging.

Algor mortis

The postmortem reduction of body temperature that begins immediately after death.

Poikilothermia

A state after death where the body temperature becomes the same as the environmental temperature.

Livor mortis (Postmortem lividity)

A purplish discoloration resulting from the accumulation of blood in dependent portions of the body after death.

Rigor mortis

The stiffening and rigidity of muscles after death due to permanent myosin-actin crosslinking.

Postmortem autolysis

The dissolution of tissues after death caused by digestive enzymes released by necrotic cells.

Putrefaction

The dissolution of cells due to the action of normal bacterial microbiota and environmental bacteria, causing swelling and bloating.