Cellular adaptation

In cell biology and pathophysiology, cellular adaptation refers to changes made by a cell in response to adverse or varying environmental changes. The adaptation may be physiologic (normal) or pathologic (abnormal).

Morphological adaptations observed at the cellular level include atrophy, hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and metaplasia. In the medical context, outside of specialized branches of biomedicine, morphological adaptations are not always referenced to the fundamental cellular level, but are observed and assessed at the level of tissues and organs. Dysplasia is a process of cell change associated with cellular abnormality, which is not considered adaptive in the positive sense of adaptation.