Cellular and
Tissue Change
Prepared by
Anshika Patel
Introduction
• Cells are the basic structural and functional units of living
organisms. They actively interact with their environment and
constantly adjust their structure and function in order to
accommodate the changing demands and extracellular stresses.
• As cells encounter physiologic stresses or pathologic stimuli, they
undergo adaptation, achieving a new steady state to preserve their
essential functions.
• Initially, the cell adapts to a stressful response, but if the stress
persists then the cell undergoes reversible, followed by
irreversible cell injury, finally leading to cell death.
Cellular Adaptation
• Cellular adaptation refers to the initial morphological and
functional changes that the cell undergoes in response to adverse
environmental changes. This enables the cell to preserve its
viability and modulate its functions in response to the harmful
stimulus.
• The measure way by which cells adaptation atrophy, hypertrophy,
hyperplasia, metaplasia, dysplasia.
Atrophy
• Atrophy is the shrinkage in the size of a cell due to the loss of cell
substance. When a substantial number of cells are involved, the
entire tissue or organ diminishes in size, becoming atrophic.
• Atrophy can be physiological and pathological:
• Physiological atrophy occurs during the early stages of
development and during the normal process of aging (senile
atrophy).
• A few examples of physiologic atrophy are the atrophy of
thyroglossal duct and notochord during fetal development,
atrophy of gonads after menopause, and atrophy of the brain with
aging.
• Pathological atrophy occurs in response to a pathological stimulus .
• Example: Inadequate nutrition (muscle wasting in PEM), Diminished
blood supply (atrophy of brain), decreased workload wasting of skeletal
muscles following prolonged immobilization.
• Morphological feature of atrophy
• Grossly, the organ appears to be small and shrunken .
• Microscopy, the cells appear smaller in size, due to a reduction in the
number of cell organelles.
Hypertrophy
• Hypertrophy is an increase in the size of the cells with a consequent
increase in the size of the organ without any change in the number of
cells.
• Hypertrophy can pathological and physiological.
• Physiological hypertrophy: Enlargement of the size of the uterus
during pregnancy and hypertrophy of the breasts during lactation.
• Pathophysiology hypertrophy: Left ventricular hypertrophy in
systemic hypertension and aortic stenosis .A primary genetic heart
disease characterized as a hypertrophied and non-dilated left ventricle
(LV) in which there is an increase in thickness of heart muscle and
decrease in the size of the heart chamber reducing the pumping
capacity of the heart and progressing further to congestive heart failure
or sudden death
• Morphological features of hypertrophy
• Grossly, the affected organ appears enlarged and heavy.
• Microscopically, there is an enlargement of muscle fibres
Hyperplasia
• Hyperplasia is an increase in the number of cells in an organ,
which results in an increase in the size of the organ.
• Hyperplasia may be physiological and pathological.
• Physiological hyperplasia: It can be divided into 2 types
-Hormonal hyperplasia: Proliferation of female beast during puberty
and lactation.
-Compensatory hyperplasia: Regeneration of the liver after removal
of its portion.
• Pathophysiology hyperplasia
• Pathological hyperplasia occurs due to excessive stimulation by
hormones or growth factors. For examples:
• Endometrial hyperplasia: Hyperproliferation of the endometrium
in polysistic overy disease.
• Nodular hyperplasia of the prostate due to excessive androgenic
stimulation.
• Atypical ductal hyperplasia of the breast, in which an abnormal
pattern of growth is seen in breast cancer.
• Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, due to increased secretion of
adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH).
Metaplasia
• When cells are faced with physiological or pathological stresses,
they respond by adapting in several ways; one of these cellular
adaptations is metaplasia.
• Metaplasia is a reversible change in which one adult cell type is
replaced by another cell type.
• Example: columnar epithelium is replaced by squamous
epithelium in respiratory tract of chronic smokers.
• Squamous epithelium is replaced by columnar epithelium in
response to chronic irritation by the reflux of gastric acid from the
stomach.
Dysplasia
• It refers to abnormal and atypical changes in cellular shape, size,
and organization. Dysplasia is often accompanied by metaplasia
and hyperplasia.
