cell injury and cell death I and II Flashcards
what are the three possible consequences of cell injury?
reversible injury - altered cell recovers and returns to being a normal cell
permanent cell injury - permanently altered after injury
lethal cell injury - injury leads to cell death - leads to necrosis (ischemia or apoptosis)
what are some characteristics of normal liver tissue (histology)?
hepatocytes arranged in trabecular architecture forming sinusoids
lots of pink cytoplasm
blue nuceli that are centrally placed
with electron microscope - mitochondria roundish and in rER
what is steatosis?
accumulation of fat (TG) in hepatocytes - often due to alcoholic liver injury
would have elevated white count and elevations of liver enzymes because enzymes leak out of damaged cells
describe an example of reversible cell injury.
damage to liver due to alcoholism - steatosis
abstinence from alcohol can result in reversal of cells back to normal hepatocytes
what happens to alcohol in the liver?
metabolized to acetate
drives microsomal system that manages toxic agents - role in underlying injury of liver
also drives liver cell into oxidative stress and drive increase in NADH - has effect on liver’s regulation of lipid metabolism
how does NADH (and alcohol) affect lipid metabolism?
alcohol increases NADH
NADH decreases FA oxidation
NADH increases TG synthesis
what are the 5 effects of EtOH on hepatic lipid metabolism?
1: Mobilization of fatty acids from body stores
2: Decreased fatty acid oxidation
3: Increased triglyceride synthesis
4: Decreased lipoprotein synthesis
5: Decreased transport, glycosylation and secretion of VLDL
all results in buildup of TG in cells cause of decreased export from cells
what would a liver damaged by alcohol (steatosis) look like histologically?
clear spaces (circles) due to lipid buildup - hepatocytes begin to resemble fat cells - eventually will look completely like fat cells except for portal triads in tissue nuceli no longer solid blue - have blue rim and dot in center presence of neutrophils in sinuses - bright red dots much smaller than hepatocyte cells
what is mallory’s hyaline?
abnormality in cytoskeleton => aggregation of cytokeratin filaments in liver cells
what happens to hepatocytes after heavy alcohol use in those with mallory’s hyaline?
get permanently altered hepatocytes even after abstinence
(note, i don’t think they have mallory’s hyaline until they damage their liver)
get alcoholic hepatitis
what would the liver biopsy of a patient with mallory’s hyaline look like histologically?
dense pink “ropes” inside the cells
these are buildup of cytokeratin filaments
hepatocytes die and are removed
neutrophils present
what would a liver biopsy of a patient with hemochromatosis look like histologically?
rusty brown/tan color in hepatocytes = buildup of iron
much less pink
check with prussian blue stain - will stain iron blue - so would see liver cells filled with blue
what is hemochromatosis?
genetic liver disease that results in abnormal accumulation of iron in tissues
eventually results in cirrhosis - identify by lots of blue with prussian stain
what does prussian blue stain for?
iron in tissue - shows up blue
used to diagnose hemosiderosis
what is hemosiderosis? how do you treat it?
buildup of iron in tissues due to any cause - can be due to local injury such as local hemorrhage
treat by removing red cell mass and can also restrict diet but iron’s in almost everything
what would a liver with Cirrhosis look like?
actual liver (gross) would have lots of green nodules - lots of fibrous tissue - bumpy surface
what are the dangers of having too much iron?
causes inflammation and free radical accumulation
what is burkitt lymphoma?
malignancy of B lymphocytes with apoptotic cell death of malignant cells and phagocytosis of apoptotic bodies by macrophages
example of apoptosis due to lethal cell injury
what is the process of apoptosis?
activation of cytochrome C - activates enzymatic cascade - cell fragments - macrophages take away debris
what are some examples of things that can induce apoptosis?
radiation, some hormones, damage
what does burkitt lymphoma look like histologically?
starry sky pattern - lightly stained macrophages with apoptotic bodies surrounded by dense infiltrate of malignant lymphocytes
lymphocytes large and abnormal
macrophages present and contain little blue dots - phagocytized fragments of dead cells
what is ischemia?
effect of O2 deprivation on cell function and morphology
can be due to arterial occlusion
what is the result of ischemia on cells?
initially injury that leads to altered cells followed by irreversible progression to cell death => necrosis
what are some of the reversible effects of ischemia?
decreased oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria => decreased ATP => decreased Na pump activity; increased glycolysis; detachment of ribosomes so decreased protein synthesis
Na and Ca2+ will come into cell cause of problem with Na/K ATPase (cause of low ATP)
cell swells
what are the irreversible effects of ischemia?
at certain point cell can no longer recover - likely due to damage to mitochondria - now no longer reversible
mitochondria releases cytochromes so that apoptosis is triggered
what would heart tissue look like histologically after ischemia?
enlarged cells
cells paler because of increased cell volume (cell swelling)
can see space in cells = edema fluid in cell
describe the role of Ca in cell death.
affects mitochondria, rER, cell membrane, nucleus adversely
if don’t correct mitochondrial abnormality cells won’t be able to do oxidative phosphorylation
what would mitochondria look like on EM after ischemia? (said he wasn’t going to ask us about this?)
mitochondria swell up
inner membranes begin to break down first
what happens to mitochondria after ischemia?
become porous, enter low energy state, lose enzymatic systems and cannot recover after a while
what is necrosis?
morphologic changes from cell death in living tissue cumulative effect of: - enzymatic degradation of dead cells - primarily mediated by lysosmal enzymes - denaturation of proteins
what determines the appearance of necrosis?
cause of injury
type of tissue
host response to the injury (inflammation)
what are the two types of necrosis (list)?
coagulative necrosis
liquefactive necrosis
what is coagulative necrosis?
most common form
denaturation of cell proteins dominates
eg when you fry an egg
infarction (ischemic cell death) is a common example
what is liquefactive necrosis?
usually necrosis with extensive acute inflammation (eg bacterial or fungal infections) resulting in fairly complete digestion of tissue (liquification)
abscess and cerebral infarction are common examples
pus
what are examples of coagulative necrosis?
1: myocardial infarction
2: renal infarction
3: pulmonary infarction
what would myocardial infarction look like (gross images)?
in gross images, thin regions due to long term necrosis and scarring so there’s no muscle there - don’t grow myocardial cells back
what would myocardial infarction look like histologically?
dead myocardial fibers - know they’re dead because they’re shrunken and thin and have lost their nuceli - coagulative necrosis - contractile proteins have coagulated
plus tiny dark blue/purple dots = neutrophils
what would renal infarct look like histologically?
large spaces with no nuclei - will be paler than surrounding regions - narrow at medulla and wider toward cortex
what would a lung with hemorrhagic pulmonary infarct look like?
appears dark red to black - red because there’s a hemmorhage from the bronchial artery even though the pulmonary artery is blocked
what is a reperfusion infarction?
red infarct caused when perfusion is immediately restored to the dead tissue
what are examples of liquefactive necrosis?
1: cerebral infarction (stroke)
2: necrotizing fungal pneumonia
why does the brain undergo liquefactive necrosis? what would it look like (gross)?
structure and circulation
get hemmorhage and that makes the area appear black, but the area itself is gone
what would a lung with fungal pneumonia look like?
on xray, opaque white
in autopsy, grey regions, developing abscess, eventually get hole in lung
in histology - lots of actue inflammation and abundance of neutrophils
what type of necrosis is gangrenous necrosis?
both coagulative (typically ischemic but can also be due to frostbite) mixed with superimposed bacterial infection that causes liqueficative necrosis