Pathology Flashcards
When is inflammation good?
During infection or injury
When is inflammation bad?
In autoimmunity, due to an overreaction to a stimulus
What is acute inflammation (cells, duration, resolution?
- Lots of neutrophils
- Sudden onset and short duration
- Usually resolves
What is chronic inflammation (cells, duration, resolution)?
- Lots of lymphocytes and macrophages
- Slow onset or occurs after acute
- Long duration and may never resolve
What are the characteristics of neutrophil polymorphs?
- Filled with cytoplasmic granules that kill bacteria
- Short lived cells that die at the scene
- Release chemicals attracting other immune cells
What are the characteristics of macrophages?
- Last weeks to months
- Phagocytic properties, ingest bacteria and debris
- Can antigen present to lymphocytes
What are the characteristics of mature lymphocytes?
- Last several years
- Produce chemicals to attract other inflammatory cells
- Immunological memory
- Large nucleus, little cytoplasm and little ER as they don’t really produce proteins
What are the characteristics of plasma cells?
- Only antibody producing
- Have a lot of ER for antibody production
- Smaller nucleus
How do endothelial cells work?
- Produce nitric oxide to stop things sticking
- Line capillaries in inflammation
- Become sticky to allow inflammatory cells to adhere
- Become porous to allow inflammatory cells to pass into tissues
- Grow into areas of damage to form new vessels
What happens to fluid in acute inflammation?
- More fluid leaking out of tissues, even at venous ends of capillaries
What are the characteristics of fibroblasts?
- Lots of ER
- Produce collagen in areas of chronic inflammation and repair
What are the characteristics of acute appendicitis?
- Unknown precipitating factor
- Neutrophils appear
- Blood vessels dilate
- Inflammation of serous surface
What is the sequence of acute inflammation?
- injury or infection
- neutrophils arrive and phagocytose and release enzymes
- macrophages arrive and phagocytose
- either resolution with clearance of inflammation or progression to chronic inflammation
What is the sequence of chronic inflammation?
- either progression from acute inflammation or starts as ‘chronic’ inflammation
- no or very few neutrophils
- macrophages and lymphocytes, then usually fibroblasts
- can resolve if no tissue damage (e.g. viral infection like glandular fever) but often ends up with repair and for- mation of scar tissue
What is a granuloma?
- Particular type of chronic inflammation: collections of macrophages surrounded by lymphocytes
- Significance: due to mycobacterial infection
- May be seen around foreign material in tissue
What is resolution?
- initiating factor removed
- tissue undamaged or able to regenerate
What is repair?
- initiating factor still present
- tissue damaged or unable to regenerate
- Can lead to replacement of damaged tissue by fibrous tissue
What types of cells can’t regenerate?
myocardial cells and neurones
What is thrombosis?
The formation of a solid mass from blood constituents in an intact vessel in a living person
What is an embolism?
Anything that moves through the blood vessels and when it reaches an area too small to pass through, blocks the blood flow.
What is ischaemia?
A reduction in blood flow to a tissue without any other implications
What is an infarction?
Reduction in blood flow to a tissue so reduced that it cannot support the maintenance of cells in the tissue so they die. Organs with end arterial supply are more prone to this
What is the implication of an embolus entering the venous system?
- Travels through vena cava > RHS of heart > lodges in pulmonary arteries >
What are the 3 factors of Virchow’s triad?
Causes of thrombosis:
- Change in vessel wall
- Change in blood flow
- Change in blood constituents
What are the possible causes of embolus?
- thrombus
- air
- cholesterol crystals
- tumour
- amniotic fluid
- fat
What are some differences between arterial and venous thromboses?
- Arterial occurs over decades, venous is rapid.
- Arterial circulation: platelet rich
- Venous circulation: fibrin rich
What are risk factors for venous thrombosis?
Major surgery, infection, inflammation
What are risk factors for arterial thrombosis?
smoking, diabetes, high BP, high cholesterol, lack of activity, poor diet, family history
What is apoptosis?
Programmed cell death in single cells
What protein triggers programmed cell death?
p53
What is apoptosis important for?
- Development: removal of cells e.g. interdigital webs
- Cell turnover: removal during normal turnover e.g. in intestinal villi
What is the role of apoptosis in cancer?
- Cells don’t apoptose when they should leading to increase in tumour size and accumulation of genetic mutations.
- Mutations in the p53 protein mean DNA damage lies undetected and apoptosis can’t be initiated
What is the role of apoptosis in HIV?
HIV induces apoptosis in CD4 helper cells, reducing their number and causing immunodeficiency
What is necrosis?
Traumatic cell death due to external factors. It occurs in a large number of cells
What are clinical examples of necrosis?
- Infarction
- Frostbite
- Toxic venom
- Pancreatitis
What is atherosclerosis?
The accumulation of fibrolipid plaques in the intima of systemic arteries. It reduces blood flow to important areas
Describe the time course of atherosclerosis?
- birth: no atherosclerosis
- late teens/20s: fatty streaks form
- 30s-50s: development of established plaques
- 40s-80s: complications of plaques e.g. thrombosis, haemorrhage
What are risk factors for atherosclerosis?
- hypertension
- hyperlipidaemia
- cigarette smoking
- diabetes mellitus