Session 1 Lecture 2 Flashcards
What does the degree of cell injury depend on?
- Type of injury
- Severity of injury
- Type of tissue
What can severe changes in the environment lead to?
Cell adaptation, injury or cell death.
What kind of things can cause cell injury?
- Hypoxia
- Toxins
- Physical agents
- Radiation
- Micro-organisms
- Immune mechanisms
- Dietary insufficiency and deficiencies
What physical agents can cause cell injury?
Direct trauma, extremes of temperature, changes in pressure and electric currents.
What is hypoxia?
Decreased oxygen supply to certain cells and tissues
What is ischaemia?
Decreased blood supply to the tissue
Which is worse, hypoxia or iscahemia? Why?
Ischaemia is worse because tissues isn’t getting oxygen and other nutrients such as glucose.
What are the different causes/types of hypoxia?
Hypoxaemic hypoxia, anaemic hypoxia, ischaemic hypoxia, histiocytic hypoxia.
What is hypoxaemic hypoxia?
- Arterial content of oxygen is low
- Due to reduced oxygen in air (high altitude) or reduced absorption in lungs.
What is anaemic hypoxia?
- Decreased ability of haemoglobin to carry oxygen
- Due to anaemia or CO poisoning
What is ischaemic hypoxia?
- Interruption of blood supply
- Due to blockage of a vessel or heart failure.
What is histiocytic hypoxia?
- Inability to utilise oxygen in cells due to disabled oxidative phosphorylation enzymes
- Due to cyanide poisoning
What type of cell in the body is very sensitive to hypoxia and ischaemia?
Neurones
How does the immune system damage the body’s cells?
- Hypersensitivity reactions
- Autoimmune reactions
What is a hypersensitivity reaction?
Host tissue is injured secondary to an overly vigorous immune reaction.
What is an autoimmune reaction?
Immune system fails to distinguish self from non-self.
Which cell components are most susceptible to injury?
Cell membrane, nucleus, proteins and mitochondria.
What is happening at a molecular level in hypoxia?
notes - check the notes that are in the folder
What about prolonged hypoxia?
Hypoxia is reversible but if it is prolonged, it does become irreversible.
What happens in a cell if it undergoes prolonged hypoxia?
The point which leads to cell death leads to a massive influx of calcium into the cell. Calcium activates lots of enzymes, eg proteases which break down cytoskeleton of the cell.
What are free radicals?
They are a reactive oxygen species.
What is the configuration of a free radical?
Single unpaired electron in an outer orbit - an unstable configuration hence react with other molecules, often producing further free radicals.
Which free radicals are of particular biological significance in cells?
- OH (hydroxyl) - the most dangerous
- O2 (superoxide)
- H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide)
How are free radicals produced?
- Normal metabolic reactions eg oxidative phosphorylation
- Inflammation - oxidative burst of neutrophils
- Radiation
- Contact with unbound metals within the body
- Drugs and chemicals eg paracetamol
How does the body control free radicals?
- Antioxidant system; donate electrons to the free radical (vitamins A, C and E)
- Metal carrier and storage proteins (transferrin, ceruplasmin) sequester iron and copper
Name some enzymes that neutralise free radicals
Superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase
How do free radicals injure cells?
- If the number of free radicals overwhelms the anti-oxidant system = oxidative imbalance
- Most important target are lipid in cell membranes
- Also oxidise proteins, carbohydrate and DNA
What effect can free radicals have on lipids in cell membrane?
- Causes lipid peroxidation
- This leads to generation of further free radicals - autocatalytic chain reaction
What effect can free radicals have proteins, carbohydrates and DNA?
- Oxidise them
- The molecules become bent out of shape, broken or cross linked
- Mutagenic and therefore carcinogenic
How else can the cell protect itself?
- Heat shock proteins aim to ‘mend’ misfolded proteins and maintain cell viability
- Unfoldases or chaperonins eg ubiquitin
In hypoxia, what does an injured/dying cell look like under a microscope?
Cytoplasmic changes, nuclear changes, abnormal accumulations
Describe what an injured cell looks like under a microscope
Cell become pale and swollen (membrane not working properly)
Describe what you see in the cytoplasm when the cell has died
When the cell dies, the cytoplasm looks very pink because the proteins have been denatured and they have clumped and clotted together hence stain strongly.
What can happen to a dead cell’s nucleus?
- Pyknosis - nucleus shrinks and becomes dark
- Karyorrhexis - nucleus breaks up into little bits
- Karyolysis - nucleus disappears (shrinks to nothing)
What does a reversible injury of a cell look like under an electron microscope?
Blebs form, generalised swelling, clumping of nuclear chromatin, ER swelling, mitochondria swelling and autophagy by lysosomes.
What does an irreversible injury of a cell look like under an electron microscope?
Rupture of lysosomes and autolysis, nuclear changes, lysis of ER, mitochondrial swelling, defects in cell membrane
How can we diagnose cell death?
A good of way of knowing when a cell is dead is by testing its function. ( can use a dye exclusion test )
What is a dye exclusion test?
If the membrane has holes in it, the dye will enter the cell. The cells that are alive will keep the dye out.
What is the actual PROCESS of cell death called?
Oncosis
Define oncosis
Cell death with swelling, the spectrum of changes that occur in injured cells prior to death
Define necrosis
In a living organism the morphologic changes that occur after a cell has been dead some time (seen after 12-24 hours)
What are the different types of necrosis?
- Two main types - coagualative and liquefactive
- Two special types - caseous and fat necrosis
Why are there two types of necrosis?
Depend on the tissue, you get protein denaturation or enzyme release. Protein denaturation leads to clumping but what often dominates is enzyme release from lysosomes.
Where is coagulation necrosis found?
Happens when you have ischaemia of solid organs (organs with lots of connective tissue eg kidney)
Where is liquifactive necrosis found?
Happens when you have ischaemia in loose tissues or in the presence of many neutrophils eg during infection.