HISTOLOGY BIOL 4000

INTRODUCTION

Basic Terminology
Histology :
histos - tissue
logos - study of
So, study of tissue.
Might be better defined as the study of the
structure of tissues.
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SO WHAT IS THE SCIENCE OF

HISTOLOGY?

Tissue is derived from the French word, tissu which means "weave or texture".
Prior to the late 1700s, tissue did not refer to organic, cellular layers, but rather to
anything woven or textured.

So, for example, a fine,

lightweight fabric was called a
tissue, or a group of connected
falsehoods is referred to as a
"tissue of lies".

The term tissue as it is used in Histology

Came into usage in the English language
in the late 1700s
Coined by the French scientist Bichat

Marie Francois Xavier Bichat (17711802)

It's important to realize that all Bichats work was

done without a microscope
Bichat based his descriptions of tissues on the
results of gross dissection (what he saw with his
naked eyes). Based on such observations, he
described 21 weaves or textures that he called
tissues - Bichats 21 textures.
Other scientists of that period made use of the
microscope that had been much improved by the
efforts of the Dutch scientist Leeuwenhoek, to
delve more deeply into the nature of the weaves
or tissues that Bichat had described.

Antony van Leeuwenhoek

(1632-1723)

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http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1092738817041241628bWnrML

A Brief History of the Microscope:

First microscopes were constructed in the Netherlands during the late 1500s.
Actual inventor uncertain, but credit is often given to Zacharias Janssen; however, other
possible inventors are Hans Lippershey (inventor of the first real telescope) and Zacharias
father, Hans Janssen

http://www.southwestschools.org/jsfaculty/Microscopes/history.html

Magnification 3 - 9X, images poor

History of the microscope:

1. First microscope with high magnification and good image quality was developed
by Anthony van Leeuwenhoek (1633 - 1723) about 1670.
2. Leeuwenhoek used beads formed from drops of molten glass as his lenses.
3. These were mounted in a metal plate that had an adjustable stage on which the
specimen to be examined was mounted.
4. Natural light or light from a candle flame was used to illuminate the specimen.

http://www.college-optometrists.org/index.aspx/pcms/site.college.What_We_Do.museyeum.online_exhibitions.microscopy.early/

History of the microscope:

Microscope design quickly evolved from better simple microscopes (one lens) to more
sophisticated compound (more than one lens in series) models with greatly improved
image quality and magnification.

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http://www.college-optometrists.org/index.aspx/pcms/site.college.What_We_Do.museyeum.online_exhibitions.microscopy.early/

How a compound microscope works:

1. The specimen is placed on the staged
2. Light is reflected or projected through or onto the specimen.
3. Reflected or projected light from the specimen passes through the objective lenses
which magnify the resultant image (e.g. 10 X).
4. The light forming the image from the objective then passes through the eyepiece
lenses which again magnify the image (e.g. 10X).
5. The spacing of the of the lenses relative to each other and to the specimen and the
position of ones eyes acts to focus the image on the retina.
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6. In the example above, the magification of the image would be,

x 10 = 100X

http://www.yesmag.bc.ca/how_work/microscope.html

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Tissues and Cells

17th century
1670 - Robert Hooke examined cork with a
microscope and found it was composed of tiny
chambers.
Hook called these chambers cells because they
reminded him of the small rooms or chambers found
in monasteries that, at that time, were described by
the the latin word cella.
Hooke published this information, as well as the
results of other microscopic research he had
performed in his Micrographia.

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http://www.realcork.org/html/prod_cork_properties.php

Similar compartments were found to be present in animal tissue.

Additional study revealed that, in living tissues, these compartments were filled with a fluid
substance which is, of course, the cell cytoplasm.

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The Cell Theory

1832 - Schleiden and Schwann independently hypothesized
that all plant and animal tissues are composed of cells.
They believed that cells were the ultimate units of living
organisms.
This is in part correct since cells are the smallest, potentially
independent unit of a living organism.

MATTHIAS JAKOB SCHLEIDEN

1804 - 1881

However, further study revealed that these small cells

contained even smaller structures in their cytoplasm.

1 SCHWANN
THEODOR
18103 - 1882

Stains were not used to examine cells in these early studies. Scientists using the microscope relied
entirely on differences in refractive index to make structures in tissues visible.
This didnt work very well - not enough contrast
Initially only the nucleus (nut) of the cell was noted,
but it soon became obvious that there was an even
smaller structure within the nucleus that was given the
name nucleolus which means small nut.

http://faraday.physics.uiowa.edu/movies/MPEG/6a40.30.mpg

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Various stains were introduced to increase contrast.

Basophil - granules contain heparin and

histamine.

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We now know that all the tissues of the body are formed from 4
basic types of tissue.

Epithelial tissue
Connective tissue
Muscle tissue
Nervous tissue

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Definitions
tissues - interwoven masses of cells and extra cellular material
cells - living, more or less self-sufficient entities that form tissues. Surrounded by a
membrane.
organelles - membrane bound structures within cells (e.g. mitochondria, golgi bodies,
lysosomes)
inclusions - various non-membrane bound structures within cells (e.g. glycogen
granules)
molecules and atoms - well, hopefully you know what these are

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As we have already stated, histology is the study of the

structure of tissues.

What is meant by structure?

Tissue structure - how cells combine together with extracellular

material and each other to form a tissue

Cellular structure - how a cell is shaped, and how the components

inside cells are organized to support that cells specific function

Sub-cellular structure - detailed analysis of organelles and inclusions

and finally,
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Histochemical structure - molecular analysis of cellular

structure
1. Energy storage molecules - lipid, protein, carbohydrate - energy for

cell metabolism.
2. Structural molecules - such as phospholipids and cholesterol,
proteins such as tubulin, actin, myosin, etc. Raw materials for
synthesis and construction of enzymes, membranes, microtubules,
micro-filaments, organelles, cells, etc.
3. Information molecules - DNA, RNA
4. Catalysts, reaction initiators - special proteins called enzymes.
5. Antigenicity - interaction of cell molecular structure with proteins
called immunoglobulins (antibodies - the immune system)

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Tissues, Cells, Cell Theory, Stains, Structure:

Put it all together - you get Histology, a science:
Friedrich Gustav Jacob Henle (18011885) - credited with creating the first
histology that was based on a
detailed examination of tissues with
the microscope,
1838 - presented report on epithelia in
the human body. Demonstrated that all
internal and external surfaces of the
body were covered by epithelia.

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Henle developed a classification for epithelia:

pavement - squamous
cylindrical - cuboidal or columnar
ciliated - having cilia
Also recognized that the epithelium lining the bladder changed
shape as the bladder filled - what we call a transitional
epithelium today.
Was also an anatomist and cytologist - many anatomical,
tissue and cellular structures are named after him.
e.g. loop of Henle
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