Figure 8. The continuum of renal cell damage.

Individual renal tubular cells are likely to respond in different ways to injury depending upon the severity of the noxious stimulus. The majority of cells presumably remain viable, either because they escape injury altogether, or because they are only sublethally injured and able to recover. More severe injury likely results in apoptosis, whereas necrosis only occurs when cells are subjected to extremely severe injury that leads to critical energy depletion and subsequent metabolic collapse. Legend and figure from citation (320).