Midterm Flashcards
Causes of Cell Injury
- Oxygen deprivation
- Physical agents
- Chemical agents and drugs
- Infectious agents
- Immunologic reactions
- Genetic alterations
- Nutritional imbalances
Causes of Cell Injury: Oxygen Deprivation
-Hypoxia is a deficiency of oxygen
-Ischemia is a loss of blood supply from arterial flow or reduced venous drainage
+It occurs in highly perfused organs like the kidney, heart and brain
Causes of Cell Injury: Physical Agents
- Mechanical trauma can occur due to injury from a blow, crush, cut or penetrating wound
- Extremes of temperature
- Radiation
- Electric shock
Causes of Cell Injury: Chemical Agents and Drugs
- Hypertonic salt concentrations - alteration of electrolyte homeostasis
- Poisons such as arsenic, cyanide, and mercuric salts
- Insecticides and herbicides
- Air pollutants such as CO2
- Alcohol and narcotics
Causes of Cell Injury: Infectious Agents
- Parasites
- Fungi
- Bacteria
- Viruses
Causes of Cell Injury: Immunologic Reactions
- Anaphylactic reaction to foreign protein and drug
- Reactions to endogenous self-antigens (autoimmune response)
Causes of Cell Injury: Genetic Alterations
- Congenital malformation
- Decreased life of RBC
- Inborn error of metabolism
Causes of Cell Injury: Nutritional Imbalances
- Protein-calorie deficiencies
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Excesses of lipids (obesity, atherosclerosis)
- Metabolic diseases (diabetes)
Mechanisms of Cell Injury
- Depletion of ATP
- Influx of Ca2+ and Loss of Ca2+ Homeostasis
- Excess calcium in the cytosol leads to decrease in ATP and in phospholipids, leading to disruption of proteins and chromatic damage –> NECROSIS - Mitochondrial Damage
- Causes: Hypoxia, toxins, oxidative stress - Accumulation of Oxygen-Derived Free Radical
- Oxidative stress caused by superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide - Defects in Membrane Permeability
- Causes: mitochondrial dysfunction, loss of membrane phospholipide
Mechanisms of Cell Injury: Depletion of ATP
- Causes: Hypoxia, ischemia, chemical injury
- Major consequence of dysfunctional sodium and calcium pumps because they result in increase influx of calcium, sodium and water –> swelling –> formation of BLEBS, which are small fragments of cell membrane that detach –> cell goes into anaerobic glycolysis and lactic acid increases –> pH more acidic
Ischemia leads to a decrease in oxidative phosphorylation and ATP, which leads…
- Decrease in sodium pump –> increase in sodium, calcium and water influx; increase in potassium efflux –> swelling and bleb formation
- Increase in anaerobic glycolysis –> decreased glycogen and pH –> clumping of nuclear chromatin
- Other: Ribosomes detach –> decrease protein synthesis –> lipid deposition
Types of Cell Death
- Necrosis
2. Apoptosis
Types of Cell Death: Necrosis
Necrosis is the premature death of cells caused by infection or the interruption of blood supply
- Always pathologic as a result of irreversible injury
- Types
1. Coagulative necrosis
2. Liquefactive necrosis
3. Caseous necrosis
4. Fat necrosis
Coagulative Necrosis
- Dead tissue is preserved for a span of time so that the cells are dead but still present
- Localized area of coagulative necrosis is called an infarct
- Characterized by
1. Intracellular acidosis
2. Denaturation of proteins and enzymes
3. Inhibition of proteolysis
Liquefactive Necrosis
- Focal bacterial or fungal infections ingest cells
- Characterized by
1. Accumulation of inflammatory cells
2. Digestion of dead cells
3. Presence of pus
4. Hypoxic death of cells with CNS
Caseous Necrosis
- Characterized by
1. Encounters gross appearance alteration (white and cheesy) in the area of necrosis
2. Tissue structure completely obliterated
3. Microscopic, granulomatous inflammation
Apoptosis
- Naturally occurring, physiological form of cell death
- Causes
1. Physiological –> required for proper development
2. Pathological –> destruction of cells that threaten an organisms integrity
Apoptosis vs. Necrosis: Mophologically
APOPTOSIS
- Outset: Shrinkage of cytoplasm, condensation of nucleus
- Plasma Membrane: Blebbing without loss of integrity
- Chromatin: Aggregation at nuclear membrane
- Organelles: Mitochondria become leaky due to pore formation
- Vesicles: Formation of apoptopic bodies
- Terminal: Fragmentation of cell into smaller bodies
NECROSIS
- Outset: Swelling of cytoplasm and mitochondria
- Plasma Membrane: Loss of integrity
- Chromatin: NOTHAAANG
- Organelles: Disintegration
- Vesicles: No vesicle formation, complete lysis occurs
- Terminal: Total lysis
Apoptosis vs. Necrosis: Biochemically
APOPTOSIS
- Regulation: Tightly regulated process involving activation of enzymatic steps
- Energy Input: ATP-dependent
- DNA: Non-random mono- and oligonucleosomal fragmentation (ladder of agarose gel)
- Timing: Prolytic DNA fragmentation
- Biochemical Events: Release of factors (cyt c) into cytoplasm by mitochondria and activation of caspase cascade
NECROSIS
- Regulation: Loss of regulation
- Energy Input: None
- DNA: Random digestion (smears of agarose gel)
- Timing: Postlytic DNA fragmentation
- Biochemical Events: NOTHAAANG
Apoptosis vs. Necrosis: Physiological Effect
APOPTOSIS
- Extent: Localized effect that destroys individual cells
- Induction: Induced by physiological stimuli (lack of growth factors changes in hormonal environment)
- Phagocytosis: By adjacent cells or macrophages
- Immune System: No inflammatory response
NECROSIS
- Extent: Affects groups of contiguous cells
- Induction: Non-physiological disturbances (viruses, hypothermia, hypoxia, ischemia, poison)
- Phagocytosis: Macrophages
- Immune System: Significant inflammatory response
Calcium
- Atomic number is 20
- Atomic weight is 40 g/mol
- Valence is +2
- 3.64% of Earth’s crust (5th most abundant element)
- Sea water contains about 400 mg/L (10 mmol/L)
Calcium: Biological Importance
- Stabilizes biological membranes
- Cations are linked to the negatively charged phosphoric part of the phospholipids that comprise the membrane, anchoring them and causing the cell membrane to be firmer and less permeable to other substances - Subcellular signalling
- Key component of the structural material bone
Low calcium causes neurons to fire more readily because ion leakage increases need for active sodium transport, lowering the threshold voltage for firing
Hypocalcemia Testing
- Chvostek Sign
2. Trousseau Sign
Endocrine Control of Calcium
Decrease of calcium leads to
1. Decrease in calcitonin –> decrease in bone formation
2. Increase in PTH –> increase in bone resorption and renal calcium reabsorption
3. Increase in 1,25(OH)2D –> increase in calcium absorption
=> ALL of these lead to an increase in calcium to help get back to homeostasis (negative feedback loop)
The Human Skeleton
- Trabecular bone prevents vertical collapse
- Long bone prevents bending
-Bone is a structurally, self-engineering biomaterial