MLT GlobeBasic Pathology: Cell injury, adaptation & death – page 2
93 Basic Pathology MCQs on Cell injury, adaptation & death with answers and explanations.
A patient with hyperparathyroidism has calcium deposits in normal lung and kidney tissue. This process is:
Metastatic calcification occurs in otherwise normal tissue when serum calcium is raised. Dystrophic calcification occurs in damaged tissue with normal calcium.
In acute pancreatitis, the digestive enzymes that escape and digest surrounding fat come from which cells?
Acinar cells secrete lipase, amylase and proteases. Their leakage causes enzymatic fat necrosis.
A diabetic's lower limb loses its blood supply; the dead tissue involves several layers and appears black and dry. This is described clinically as:
Gangrenous necrosis is a clinical term for ischemic coagulative necrosis of a limb involving multiple tissue layers; superimposed infection makes it 'wet'.
Focal bacterial infections, and occasionally fungal infections, typically produce which pattern of necrosis?
Microbes attract neutrophils whose enzymes liquefy tissue, forming pus in an abscess.
Reduction in cell size due to loss of cell substance, as in a limb kept in a cast, is termed:
Atrophy is shrinkage of cells through loss of cellular substance; when enough cells shrink, the organ becomes smaller.
In an atrophic organ, the individual cells are best described as:
Atrophic cells are shrunken with fewer organelles yet remain alive and functional at a lower level. Replacement by another cell type is metaplasia.
A bodybuilder's muscle mass increases through training. This change is:
Skeletal muscle fibers cannot divide; increased workload enlarges fibers, a normal (physiological) hypertrophy.
A diabetic patient's foot shows swollen, foul-smelling, infected necrotic tissue. This is best described as:
Wet gangrene is ischemic necrosis complicated by bacterial infection, adding liquefaction. Dry gangrene is coagulative necrosis without significant infection.
In which type of necrosis does enzymatic digestion of dead cells predominate over protein denaturation?
Liquefactive necrosis results from digestion by hydrolytic enzymes, often from neutrophils, turning tissue into fluid.
An elderly patient bedridden for three months has thin, weak thigh muscles. The most likely cause of this atrophy is:
Decreased workload causes disuse atrophy of skeletal muscle, with loss of fiber size and protein content.
Which form of cell death is characterized by a reduction in cell size?
Apoptotic cells shrink, with dense cytoplasm. Necrosis (oncosis) is associated with swelling of the cell and its organelles.
A pathologist sees dead hepatocytes surrounded by neutrophils in a liver biopsy. This inflammatory response suggests the cells died by:
Necrotic cells rupture and release contents that trigger inflammation. Apoptotic bodies are removed quickly without an inflammatory response.
Accumulation of triglyceride-filled vacuoles within hepatocytes is termed:
Steatosis is abnormal intracellular triglyceride accumulation, commonly in liver due to alcohol, obesity or diabetes. It is reversible, unlike cirrhosis.
The wear-and-tear pigment lipofuscin appears in H&E-stained tissue as:
Lipofuscin, a complex of lipids and proteins from membrane peroxidation, appears as finely granular yellow-brown pigment, often near the nucleus.
Which form of cell death also occurs in normal, healthy tissue to remove unwanted cells?
Apoptosis is a regulated program used in embryogenesis, hormone-dependent involution and cell turnover. Necrosis is always pathological.
A cell dies while its plasma membrane stays intact and no inflammatory reaction follows. This is:
In apoptosis the membrane remains intact and fragments are cleared quietly by phagocytes. Necrosis and necroptosis rupture the membrane and provoke inflammation.
Reversibly injured cells show small clear cytoplasmic vacuoles from distended ER segments. This change is called:
Failure of ion pumps lets water enter, producing hydropic or vacuolar degeneration. Fatty change shows lipid vacuoles, mainly in liver.
Which morphological feature favours necrosis over apoptosis?
Necrotic cells swell; apoptotic cells shrink, condense chromatin, form apoptotic bodies and are removed without inflammation.
A section shows deeply eosinophilic cytoplasm, shrunken, fragmented or fading nuclei and enzymatic breakdown of cell contents with nearby inflammation. The process is:
Increased eosinophilia with pyknosis, karyorrhexis, karyolysis and enzymatic digestion describes necrosis. Apoptosis lacks enzymatic digestion and inflammation.
A gradual loss of replicative capacity and lifespan of cells, associated with telomere shortening, is termed:
Replicative senescence reflects telomere shortening, DNA damage and reduced proliferation. Apoptosis is a discrete death program, not a progressive decline.