HISTO: Fundamentals of Histology Flashcards
Where would you see these in acute appendicitis?
Neutrophils mean acute inflammation
Would be seen in the crypts in acute appendicitis (as below). Also in gastritis and mastitis.
What are these cells and what are they associated with?
Lymphocytes and plasma cells - chronic inflammation and lymphomas. More plasma usually means lymphocytes // less is a plasma cell.
What cells can be seen in this picture?
This is a picture of a crypt in colitis. The outside of the circular structure is mainly lymphocytes whereas the inside is neutrophils (recognised by the irregular nuceli). This signifies acute on chronic inflammation.
What is seen in this slide of sheets of lymphocytes?
Lymphoma
What is this cell? What are they associated with?
Eosinophil - bi-lobed nucleus and red granules.
Allergic reactions, parasitic infections (e.g. schistosomiasis), tumours e.g. Hodgkin’s disease.
What is this?
Oesophagus with feline contractions. Due to eosinophil infiltration from an allergic reaction.
Where are these cells commonly found?
In urticarial reactions e.g. skin. If you look at the biopsy of the skin then you will find these.
What is this cell and what is it associated with?
Macrophages - associated with late acute inflammation (clean up after an infection), chronic inflammation (including granulomas*). They are also found in the alveoli.
*granulomas - macrophage groups
What are these and which infection are they associated with?
Shown are sheets of epithelioid macrophages and some Langerhan’s cells (giant). They are found in TB as below in caseous lesions in the lung shown.
What stain is shown?
Ziehl-Neelson stain for TB - phospholipid in the bacteria binds the red dye in the stain giving this colour.
Ontological classification - classified based on the cells that we think they came from.
What is a carcinoma?
Tumour of epithelial cells - most common seen in practice
Name 3 types of carcinomas.
- Squamous cell carcinoms
- Adenocarcinomas
- Transitional cell carcinomas
What is shown here?
Intercellular bridges in squamous cells.
Below is the zoomed out version shows keratin production which would be seen in a tumour.
How can you recognise squamous cell carcinomas?(2)
Keratin production and intercellular bridges
What type of cancer is this?
Squamous cell carcinoma - recognised by the big patches of keratin that they produce
What is shown and what stain has been used?
Alcian blue stain - stains for mucin and highlights the goblet cells in the glandular epithelium of the large bowel
What kind of tumour of the large bowel is this and how is it confirmed?
Nuclei are dark and there are irregular layers meaning that this is a tumour. Using an Alcian blue stain you can confirm that this is an adenocarcinoma as you can check for mucin production (as shown below).
Why are the cells dark?
They are pigmented cells or melanocytes
What does this biopsy of a mole show?
Malignant melanoma - the cells are making melanin. But if it became very undifferentiated then the cells may stop making melanin.
Which stain can be used for melanin?
Fontana stain
Which stain can be used to look at iron overload e.g. in the liver in haemochromatosis?
Prussian blue iron stain - used to highlight the brown in the slide below
Which stain can be used to highlight the red parts of this glomerulus more brightly? Why is it used?
Congo red stain is used for staining amyloid - make sure that this is amyloid and not other tissue.
If a Congo Red stain for amyloid has been done, what other test can be used to confirm the presence of amyloid?
Looking at the section under polarised light will produce apple green birefringence. Shows the glomerulus and blood vessels.
If you stain an undifferentiated tumour for cytokeratin, what type of tumour are you checking for?
CARCINOMA
Cytokeratin is an epithelial marker.
Why would you use the CD45 stain?
As a lymphoid marker
What is this stain for? What type of stain is this? NB: it has been used to check for adenocarcinoma in a liver.
CK20 + is a marker. This stain is a mAb stain.
If a similar stain called CK7 was used, and it was negative, you could deduce that this is a large bowel primary tumour which has metastasised to the liver.
Which infections typically produce ulcers with cells with several nuceli?
Typical of ALL Herpes virus infections - clinically the most common one is herpes simplex but this can be confirmed by further staining with immunihistochemistry (monoclonal antibodies).
