When there is marked cellular injury, there is cell death and necrosis. This microscopic appearance of myocardium shown here is a mess because so many cells have died that the tissue is not recognizable. Many nuclei have become pyknotic (shrunken and dark) and have then undergone karorrhexis (fragmentation) and karyolysis (dissolution). The cytoplasm and cell borders are no longer recognizable. In this case, loss of the blood supply from a major coronary artery led to ischemia and cell death.