Question

All of the following are features of apoptosis, except:

• A. Cellular swelling
• B. Nuclear compaction
• C. Intact cell membrane
• D. Cytoplasmic eosinophilia

Hint:

Shrinkage defines apoptosis; swelling defines necrosis.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Think about what physically happens to a cell as it dies in each pathway. In apoptosis the cell actively pulls itself inward. It loses water and shrinks. Because the volume drops while protein content stays the same, the cytoplasm packs tightly and turns intensely pink on H and E, which we call eosinophilia. The chromatin is squeezed against the inner nuclear membrane, producing the condensed clumped nucleus described as nuclear compaction or pyknosis. The genius of apoptosis is that the membrane is never breached; the dying cell parcels itself into sealed apoptotic bodies so its enzymes never spill out, which is why there is no surrounding inflammation. Now contrast this with necrosis. Here the injured cell can no longer run its $Na^+/K^+$ ATPase pumps, sodium and water rush in, and the cell balloons up. That ballooning is cellular swelling, and it is a marker of reversible injury and necrosis, the exact opposite of the tight shrinkage of apoptosis. So when the question asks which listed item is not an apoptotic feature, the misfit is cellular swelling. The other three, packed pink cytoplasm, condensed nucleus, and an unbroken membrane, are all defining apoptotic changes. \[\boxed{\text{Cellular swelling}}\]