BIOM20001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 59: Apoptosis, Embryogenesis, Marination
Document Summary
Spectrum of morphological changes following cell death in living tissue. Cell death that happens without the participation of the cell. Always a pathological process, a problem, something that is not controlled by the host. In the case of heart attack you may detect cardial enzymes in blood. Increased eosinophilic staining - denatured protein and loss of rna. Normally these enzymes can"t act in cytosol since they require acidic conditions. However because cell has been undergoing anaerobic respiration, producing lactic acid, it can act. Myelin figures: whorls of phospholipid from damaged membranes. Nuclear change due to breakdown of dna and chromatin. Karyolysis - decreased basophilia (staining from basic dye) from dna breakdown. Pyknosis - nuclear shrinkage and increased basophilia (condensed). Karyorrhexia - nuclear fragmentation (forms little holes between nuclear fragments, purple stains are spotty, as are pink stains of cytosol due to vacuolation) When large numbers of cells die the tissue is said to be necrotic.
