Before revision:  Here we provide a systematic study on a nonlinear dynamical model of acute cell injury and characterize the global dynamics of a nonautonomous version of the theory. The nonautonomous model gives rise to four qualitative types of dynamical patterns that can be mapped to the behavior of cells after clinical acute injuries.
After revision:  Here we provide a systematic study on a nonlinear dynamical model of acute cell injury and characterize the global dynamics of the cell injury theory using a nonautonomous formulation. Different from the standard scenario in nonlinear dynamics that is determined by the steady state and fixed points of the model equations, in this nonautonomous model with a trivial fixed point, the system property is dominated by the transient states and the corresponding dynamic processes. The model gives rise to four qualitative types of dynamical patterns that can be mapped to the behavior of cells after clinical acute injuries.