MOD Session 1 Flashcards
What is disease?
Consequence of failed homeostasis with consequent morphological and functional disturbances
What determines the degree of cellular injury?
1) Type of injury
2) Severity of injury
3) Type of tissue
More severe changes lead to cell adaptations, injury or death.
What is hypoxia?
Oxygen deprivation
What is hypoxaemic hypoxia and what are the consequences? Under what circumstances can this phenomenon happen?
Arterial oxygen content is low. Causes decreased ox phos and increases glycolysis (production of lactate). Can occur at high altitude due to decreased p02 and decreased absorption due to lung disease.
What is hypoxaemic hypoxia and what are the consequences? Under what circumstances can this phenomenon happen?
Decreased ability of Hb to carry oxygen. Caused by anaemia and CO poisoning.
What is ischaemic hypoxia and what are the consequences? Under what circumstances can this phenomenon happen?
Interruption to blood supply (more severe). This causes a reduced supply of oxygen and nutrients so cell injury occurs more rapidly. Caused by blockage of a vessel and heart failure.
What is histiocytic hypoxia and what are the consequences? Under what circumstances can this phenomenon happen?
Inability to utilise oxygen in cells due to disabled ox phos enzymes. e.g. Cyanide poisoning
List 8 examples of toxins that can cause cellular injury.
Glucose and salt in hypertonic solutions High [02] Poisons Alcohol Drugs Insecticides/Herbicides Pollutants Medicines
How do immune mechanisms cause cellular injury?
2 ways:
1) Hypersensitivity : host tissue is injured secondary to an overly vigorous immune reaction e.g. urticaria
2) Autoimmune reactions : immune system fails to distinguish self from non-self e.g. Grave’s
What physical agents can cause cell injury?
Direct trauma, extremes of temperature, electric currents, radiation
What micro-organisms can cause cell injury?
Viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites
What two other ways can cause cell injury?
Dietary insufficiency/excess and genetic abnormalities.
What are the four principal targets for cell damage?
1) Cell membranes e.g. plasma and organelles (lysosomes)
2) Nuclues - DNA
3) Proteins - structural, enzymes
4) Mitochondria - Ox phos
Describe the pathogenesis of reversible hypoxia.
1) Cell becomes deprived of oxygen
2) Decreased production of ATP by ox phos
3) Loss of Na+/K+ pump
4) Na+ rises intracellularly which draws water in.
5) Oncosis (swelling of organelles)
6) Calcium influx causing damage
7) Decrease in pH and glycogen as lactate is produced (causes chromatin clumping)
8) Detachment of ribosomes (decrease in protein synthesis and increased fat deposition)
Describe the pathogensis of irreversible hypoxia.
1) Influx of Ca2+ due to increased membrane permeability
2) Ca2+ released from mitochondria and E.R increasing intracellular calcium
3) Causes acivation of ATPases, phospholipases, proteases and endonucleases.
4) Causes intracellular components to be damaged and degraded causing cell membrane damage and blebbing.
Describe the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion injury.
If blood flow is returned to a damaged, but not yet necrotic tissue, damage sustained can be worse than if blood flow hadn’t returned.
May be due to:
1) Increased production of oxygen free radicals with reoxygenation
2) Increased neutrophil infiltrate resulting in more inflammation and increased tissue injury
3) Delivery of complement proteins and activation of the complement pathway.
What are the three free radicals that are of significance to cells?
1) Hydroxyl
2) Superoxide
3) Hydrogen peroxide
Under what circumstances are free radicals produced?
Produced in chemical and radiation injury, ischaemia-reperfusion injury, cellular aging, and at high oxygen concentrations.
Which two reactions produce hydroxyl radicals? What are two important substrates and importance of one of the reactions?
1) Fenton and Haber-Weiss reactions
2) The superoxide and hydrogen peroxide radicals are substrates causing more production of hydroxyl radicals.
3) Fenton reaction is important in bleeding as iron is freed and is a main substrate for the reaction
What pathological effects do free radicals have on cells?
1) Lipid peroxidation causing generation of more radicals
2) Attack proteins, carbs and DNA (these molecules can be bent out of shape, broken or crossed-linked and can be mutagenic.
What are the cellular defenses to free radicals?
1) Enzymes e.g. SOD, catalase
2) Free radical scavengers e.g. VIt A,C and E along with GSH.
3) Storage proteins e.g. transferrin and ceruloplasmin sequester iron and copper.
What do heat shock proteins do?
They respond to cell injury and are increased in their synthesis under stress. They aim to mend mis-folded proteins and maintain cell viability. Examples include chaperonins and ubiquitin.
Define oncosis.
Cell death with swelling, the spectrum of changes that occur prior to death in cells injured by hypoxia and some other agents.
Define necrosis.
In a living organism the morphologic changes that occur after a cell has been dead some time.
Define apoptosis
Cell death with shrinkage, cell death induced by a regulated intracellular program where a cell activates enzymes that degrade its own nuclear DNA and proteins.
What does the dye exclusion technique indicate and how?
Cell death. If the dye is absorbed a cell is dead as the membrane is leaky.
Under a light microscope what are the three main alterations seen when a cell undergoes oncosis and describe them.
1) Cytoplasmic changes - reduced pink staining of the cytoplasm due to accumulation of water (reversible change). This may be followed by increased pink staining due to detachment and loss of ribosomes from the endoplasmic reticulum and accumulation of denatured proteins (irreversible change).
2) Nuclear changes - chromatin is subtly clumped (reversible change). This may be followed by various combinations of pyknosis (shrinkage), karryohexis (fragmentation) and karryolysis (dissolution) of the nucleus (irreversible change).
3) Abnormal intracellular accumulations
Under an electron microscope what reversible changes can be identified when a cell undergoes oncosis?
1) Swelling – both of the cell and the organelles due to Na+/K+ pump failure
2) Cytoplasmic blebs, which are symptomatic of cell swelling
3) Clumped chromatin due to reduced pH
4) Ribosome separation from the endoplasmic reticulum due to failure of energy-dependant process of maintaining ribosomes in the correct location
Under an electron microscope what irreversible changes can be identified when a cell undergoes oncosis?
1) Increased cell swelling
2) Nuclear changes - pyknosis, karyolysis, or karyorrhexis
3) Swelling and rupture of lysosomes – reflects membrane damage
4) Membrane defects
5) The appearance of myelin figures (which are damaged membranes)
6) Lysis of the endoplasmic reticulum due to membrane defects
7) Amorphous densities in swollen mitochondria
What one feature differs oncosis/necrosis from apoptosis?
Apoptosis is ATP dependant