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Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations (which can destroy the gene to build up the organ), poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, excessive amount of apoptosis of cells, and disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself.
Cellular atrophy is a decrease in cell size. If enough cells in an organ undergo atrophy the entire organ will decrease in size. Thymus atrophy during early human development (childhood) is an example of physiologic atrophy. Skeletal muscle atrophy is a
Involution is the shrinking or return of an organ to a former size. At a cellular level, involution is characterized by the process of proteolysis of the basement membrane (basal lamina), leading to epithelial regression and apoptosis, with accompanying stromal fibrosis.
Metaplasia (conversion in cell type) Neoplasia (abnormal proliferation) Prosoplasia (development of new cell function) Abiotrophy (loss in vitality of organ or tissue) Atrophy (reduced functionality of an organ, with decrease in the number or volume of cells) Hypertrophy (increase in the volume of cells or tissues)
Overview of signal transduction pathways involved in apoptosis. Cell death is the event of a biological cell ceasing to carry out its functions. This may be the result of the natural process of old cells dying and being replaced by new ones, as in programmed cell death, or may result from factors such as diseases, localized injury, or the death of the organism of which the cells are part.
Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, or trauma which result in the unregulated digestion of cell components. In contrast, apoptosis is a naturally occurring programmed and targeted cause of cellular death.
The classic definition of death defines it as a state characterized by the cessation of signs of life. It is when a cell has lost the integrity of its plasma membrane and/or has undergone complete disintegration, including its nucleus, and/or its fragments have been engulfed by a neighboring cell in vivo.
This magnified image of type 2 muscle fibers shows denervation atrophy occurring at the white spaces at the top left and bottom center of the image. The white space represents a disruption of the nerve fibers, resulting in a loss of nerve supply to the muscle fibers. Denervation is any loss of nerve supply regardless of the cause.