MLT GlobeBasic Pathology: Inflammation – page 7
134 Basic Pathology MCQs on Inflammation with answers and explanations.
Activation of the inflammasome, a cytosolic multiprotein complex, results mainly in secretion of which cytokine?
The inflammasome activates caspase-1, which cleaves pro-IL-1 beta (and pro-IL-18) into active forms, driving fever and neutrophil recruitment.
A patient with non-caseating granulomas develops hypercalcaemia because granuloma macrophages convert vitamin D to its active form. The disease is most likely:
Activated macrophages in sarcoid granulomas express 1-alpha-hydroxylase, producing calcitriol and causing hypercalcaemia and hypercalciuria.
Star-shaped inclusions seen within giant cells of non-caseating granulomas in sarcoidosis are called:
Sarcoid giant cells may contain asteroid bodies and laminated calcified Schaumann bodies. Russell bodies are immunoglobulin in plasma cells; Councilman bodies are apoptotic hepatocytes.
The brief arteriolar vasoconstriction immediately after vascular injury is mediated mainly by:
Reflex neurogenic mechanisms plus endothelin cause transient vasoconstriction at the injury site. Histamine, prostacyclin and nitric oxide are vasodilators.
A bowel resection shows transmural chronic inflammation with occasional non-caseating granulomas in the wall. The most likely diagnosis is:
Crohn disease shows transmural inflammation with non-caseating granulomas in some cases. Tuberculosis typically forms caseating granulomas; ulcerative colitis is mucosal without granulomas.
Which of the following inflammatory mediators is NOT a cytokine?
Nitric oxide is a soluble gas produced by NO synthase that causes vasodilation. IL-1, TNF and IFN-gamma are protein cytokines.
Which of the following is NOT a tissue macrophage of the mononuclear phagocyte system?
Osteoclasts, Hofbauer cells, splenic littoral cells, Kupffer cells and microglia are tissue macrophages. Osteoblasts are bone-forming mesenchymal cells.
Localised oedema due to increased vascular permeability is characteristically seen in:
Inflammation produces protein-rich exudate through leaky endothelium. Heart failure, hypoalbuminaemia and lymphatic obstruction cause oedema through other mechanisms.
Toll-like receptors, key sensors of microbes in innate immunity, were named after a gene first identified in:
The Toll gene was discovered in Drosophila, where it controls development and antifungal defence; mammalian homologues were named Toll-like receptors.
Assembly of the inflammasome in response to danger signals activates which protease that cleaves pro-IL-1β to its active form?
The inflammasome activates caspase-1, which processes pro-IL-1β (and IL-18) into active cytokines. Caspase-3 is an apoptotic executioner; phospholipase A2 releases arachidonic acid.
The inflammatory response is often summarised as five sequential 'R' steps. Which is NOT one of them?
The five Rs are recognition of the injurious agent, recruitment of leukocytes, removal of the agent, regulation of the response, and repair. Resorption is not one of them.
After a sunburn, vessel leakage begins 2-12 hours later and lasts for several hours. Which vessels are chiefly involved in this delayed prolonged leakage?
Delayed prolonged leakage, as in mild thermal or UV injury, affects both capillaries and venules through direct endothelial damage or cytokine effects.
In typhoid enteritis, the inflammatory infiltrate in the ulcerated Peyer patches consists mainly of:
Salmonella Typhi provokes macrophage-rich 'typhoid nodules' with little neutrophil response, unlike most acute bacterial inflammations.
In atherosclerotic plaques, which material is phagocytosed by macrophages and activates the NLRP3 inflammasome?
Crystals such as cholesterol (atherosclerosis) and monosodium urate (gout) activate the NLRP3 inflammasome, triggering caspase-1 and IL-1 beta release.