Q.Distinguish between hypertrophy and hyperplasia with an example for each.

Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia

When a tissue or organ grows larger, there are really only two ways it can do so: the cells it already has can each get bigger, or the tissue can make more cells. These two routes have separate names — hypertrophy and hyperplasia — and telling them apart is the key idea here.

Hypertrophy — bigger cells, same number

Hypertrophy is an increase in the size of existing cells, without any increase in their number. The cells swell by making more of their internal machinery (proteins, filaments), so each one does more work. The classic example is skeletal muscle: when you exercise a muscle repeatedly, the individual muscle fibres enlarge, and the muscle grows stronger and bulkier. The heart of an athlete or of someone with high blood pressure also enlarges by hypertrophy. Importantly, hypertrophy is the main growth route for cells that cannot easily divide, like mature muscle and nerve cells.

Hyperplasia — more cells, same size

Hyperplasia is an increase in the number of cells through cell division (mitosis). Each cell stays roughly its normal size, but there are simply more of them. This happens in tissues whose cells can still divide — for example, the growth of the uterus lining, or glandular tissue responding to a hormonal signal.

Why the distinction matters …