Question

Progressive loss of bone that occurs in osteoporosis is an example of:

• A. Atrophy
• B. Hyperplasia
• C. Hypertrophy
• D. Metaplasia

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

The correct option is (A): Atrophy.

Answer 2

Osteoporosis causes a slow, steady loss of bone tissue over time. This question is really asking which basic cell-adaptation term describes that kind of change. Let's look at each option on its own terms:

1. Atrophy: Atrophy means a tissue shrinks because its cells reduce in size or number, often from disuse, poor blood supply, or hormonal change. In osteoporosis, bone-forming cells slow down while bone-resorbing cells stay active, so bone mass keeps falling. That steady shrinkage of tissue mass is exactly what atrophy describes.
2. Hyperplasia: Hyperplasia is an increase in the number of cells in a tissue, which makes the tissue grow, not shrink. Bone loss is the opposite of this, so hyperplasia does not fit.
3. Hypertrophy: Hypertrophy means individual cells grow larger, increasing the size of an organ, like a muscle after weight training. It does not describe a loss of tissue, so it cannot explain the thinning bone seen in osteoporosis.
4. Metaplasia: Metaplasia is when one mature cell type is replaced by another mature cell type, usually as a response to chronic irritation. Bone tissue in osteoporosis is not being replaced by a different tissue type, it is simply becoming less dense, so metaplasia does not apply.

Since osteoporosis involves a steady reduction in bone tissue rather than cell growth, new cell types, or added cell numbers, it fits the definition of a shrinking, wasting tissue.

So the correct answer is Atrophy.