Cellular Adaptations and Responses Flashcards
Define humoralism.
Founded by Hippocrates in 400 BC, in which disease or disability results from an imbalance of 4 humors – blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm, within the body.
How does disease arise?
Diseases result from molecular or structural alterations to cells and their components:
- Cells normally react to physiological stimuli to maintain homeostasis.
- Altered steady states occur when a physiological stimulus pushes the cell to adapt beyond normal homeostatic range.
- These are pathological stimuli – which stress the cells and cause cellular adaptations that result in altered steady state.
What are the 2 types of cellular adaptation?
Changes in cell growth – size or number
Changes in cell types – differentiation
What types of pathological stimuli can cause adaptive changes?
Altered physiological stimuli, such as altered demands such as an excessive increase or decrease in workload, or a nutritional deficiency.
Chronic irritation – mild physical or chemical injury
What types of stimuli cause cellular injury?
Internal:
- Oxygen depravation
- Nutritional imbalance
- Immune system reactions
- Genetic abnormalities
- Ageing
- Workload imbalance
Environmental:
- Infectious agents
- Physical agents
- Chemicals, drugs and toxins
What may irreversible cell injury cause?
Cell injury is reversible up to a point and depends on if the stimulus is removed or persists.
Irreversible injury > cell death > may lead to pathological calcification of tissues
What 3 cellular alterations in growth can occur as an adaptation?
Atrophy
Hypertrophy
Hyperplasia
What happens in atrophy?
- Cellular or tissue and organ level
- Decreases in size of a cell
- May decrease synthesis of new cellular components or it may increase the degradation of existing cellular components
- If the cell removes or reduces the number of cellular components it has, its functional capacity will also reduce
- A reduction is mass or an organ or tissue due to a decrease in size or number of cells
- Can occur by reduction in cells size, loss of cells or both
Distinguish atrophy and hyperplasia.
Hyperplasia involves developmental failure, with partial failure to develop. Atrophy is a reduction in the mass of a previously normal sized organ or tissue.
What are the causes of atrophy?
Decreased workload – disuse atrophy
Destruction and loss of cells with a lack of replacement
Deprivation of nutrients or growth factors:
- Deficient intake or utilisation of nutrients
- Reduced blood supply to tissues
- Reduced hormone stimulation
- Loss of innervation
Describe what happens to an animal who receives prolonged corticosteroids.
- Prolonged corticosteroid administration has an excessive feedback on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis.
- Reduces the amount of ACTH produced.
- Stimulus of adrenal cortex is reduced and there is atrophy of the adrenal cortex.
- Reduced cortisol production.
- Clinically, suddenly removing corticosteroids, adrenal cortex will not be able to cope and out the animal into severe crisis.
What happens in hyperplasia?
An increase in the number of parenchymal cells in an organ or tissue.
Inappropriate persistent hyperplasia may increase the risk of development of neoplastic disease at that site.
Which cell types can undergo hyperplasia?
Fibroblasts
Lymphocytes
Stratified squamous epithelium
Sweat gland epithelium
Vascular endothelium
What happens in hypertrophy?
Increase in size of a cell due to an increase in the number and size of organelles.
- Can be at cellular or organ and tissue level
- In tissue and organs, there is an increase in the number and volume of a tissue or organ due to parenchymal cell hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia
What are the causes of hypertrophy?
- Increased workload
- Increased hormonal stimulation
- Reactive response to inflammation
- Age related change
What are the 2 types of cell differentiation?
Metaplasia
Dysplasia
What is metaplasia?
Change from the normal cell types to another type that is better able to withstand the insult/stress.
What are the potential problems with metaplasia?
Decreased normal function.
May have an increased risk for developing neoplasia.
What is dysplasia?
A reversible or partially reversible change characterised by disorderly growth.
What is problem with dysplasia?
Highest risk of the development of neoplastic disease.
What are 4 causes of injury?
- Impaired energy/ATP production
- Impaired cell membrane function
- Biological pathway derangement
- Nucleic acid/DNA damage
What causes depletion of energy in cells?
Hypoxia
Mitochondrial damage or dysfunction
What causes hyopxia?
Respiratory failure
Cardiac failure
Reduced vascular perfusion – ischaemia
Anaemia
Severe blood loss
What causes mitochondrial damage or dysfunction?
Damage to mitochondrial membranes
Increased cytosolic calcium (which also interferes with ATP production)