Histology and Its Methods: Part I Flashcards
____________ is the study of tissues of the body and how these tissues are arranged to constitute organs
Histology
What are two crucial understandings to the study of histology?
- All living things are composed of cells and cell products
- All diseases result from disorders in cellular function
What are the basic levels of organization from smallest (atom) to largest (organism)?
Atom
Molecule
Cell
Tissue
Organ
Organ System
Organism
What is a tissue?
A group of similar cells from the same origin that together carry out a specific function
What is an organ?
A group of tissues that are formed by function
What two interacting components become functionally specialized to give rise to tissues?
- Cells
- Extracellular matrices
The ______________ _________ supports cells and contains fluid for transporting nutrients to cells and carrying wastes away from cells
Extracellular matrix
What are the four basic tissue types?
- Epithelium
- Connective
- Muscle
- Nerve
______________ tissue covers body surfaces, lines body cavities, and forms glands
Epithelial
______________ tissue underlies or supports epithelial, muscle, and nervous tissue, both structurally and functionally
Connective
What type of tissue is blood?
Connectivve
_____________ tissue is composed of contractile cells, which underlie aspects of motility
Muscle
_____________ tissue receives, integrates, and transmits information from outside and inside the body to control activities of the body
Nervous
How many types of muscle tissue are there?
Three: muscle, cardiac, and smooth
Of the three muscle tissues, which two are striated?
Muscle and cardiac
Of all the tissue types, which is the least plastic, leaving it prone to damage and disorder?
Nervous
There are two general methods for studying tissues: microscopy and ___________ ____________
Molecular techniques
_____________ microscopy is based on the interaction of light and tissue components that’s often used to reveal and study tissue features. Types of this microscopy include bright-field, fluorescence, phase-contrast, confocal, polarizing, and differential interference
Light
What is resolving power?
The smallest distance between two objects at which they can still be seen as separate objects; resolving power determines the quality of the image and is dependent upon the quality of objective lenses
What is the resolving power of a light microscope?
0.2 µm
The resolving power of a light microscope is around 0.2 micrometers, which allows us to see cellular components like a _____________ or cytoplasmic filament
Ribosome
In ________________ microscopy, tissue sections are irradiated with UV light and the emission is in the visible portion of the spectrum, resulting in bright colors against a dark background
Fluorescence
_________________ microscopy involves modified light microscopes that can be used to study unstained cells and tissue sections; images are generally transparent and colorless but can be used to view living, cultured cells
Phase-contrast
The image is produced by what type of microscope?
Phase contrast
The image is produced by what type of microscopy?
Differential interference
In ________________ microscopy, light is optically aligned in the focal plane (i.e., confocal), resulting in improved resolution and specimen localization; however, the microscope must include a computer-driven mirror system to move the point of illumination across the specimen automatically and rapidly
Confocal
_____________ microscopy allows for recognition of structures made of highly organized molecules and produces images of materials with repetitive, periodic macromolecular structures - features without structure are not seen
Polarizing
These images are taken with what type of microscopy?
Polarizing
In ______________ microscopy, images result from the interaction of electrons and tissue components, and because the wavelength of an electron beam is much shorter, this type of microscopy allows for much better resolution
Electron
In ________________ ____________ microscope, an electron beam passes directly through the specimen, and heavy metal ions are often used for tissue preparation to improve contrast
Transmission electron
What is the typical resolution of a transmission electron microscope?
Around 3 nm
This image was taken via what type of microscopy?
Transmission electron microscopy
In ___________________ _________ microscopy, electrons do not pass through the specimen; they simply scan the specimen, providing high resolution of surfaces, which is usually dried and spray-coated with a thin layer of heavy metal (i.e., gold)
Scanning electron
From what type of microscope is this image produced?
Scanning electron
_______________________ is a method of localizing newly synthesized macromolecules in cells or tissue sections by radioactively labeling metabolites to be incorporated into macromolecules in living cells
Autoradiography
From what type of molecular technique is this image derived?
Autoradiography
How can you tell the difference between autoradiography and electron microscopy images?
Autoradiography labels metabolic products whereas EM shows the cells themselves
What types of information can autoradiography provide?
Which cells and how many cells are replicating DNA in preparation to divide as well as events, like where in the cell is a protein produced or secreted
What are three benefits of in vitro and in vivo cell and tissue culture over other histological methods?
- Molecular effects can be isolated on specific cell types
- Cellular behavior can be directly observed under phase-contrast microscopy
- Experimentation otherwise not possible with an intact organism can occur
In ____________ ___________, cells and tissues are grown in complex solutions of known composition with serum components or growth factors added
Cell and tissue culture
In a ______________ cell culture, the cells are initially dispersed mechanically or enzymatically and plated sterilely upon which the cells adhere
Primary cell culture
What is a cell line?
A permanent, immortalized line once isolated from normal or pathological tissue and maintained in vitro
The process that promotes cell imortality in cell lines is called…?
Transformation
In _____________ ____________, the localization of cellular structures can be determined
Enzyme histochemistry
Why are compounds or macromolecules tagged in enzyme histochemistry?
To detect and localize specific sugars, proteins, and nucleic acids
Which histological method utilizes the highly specific interaction between antigen and antibodies?
Immunohistochemistry
What’s required for all immunohistochemical techniques?
Antibodies, which are produced against foreign antigens
In ___________ immunohistochemistry, the antibody is made against the tissue of interest, tagged with a label, and placed with the tissue section on a slide; the labeled antibodies bind specifically to the antigens against which they were produced and can be visualized
Direct
In ____________ immunohistochemistry, the primary antibody is made against the antigen of interest and applied to the tissue slide; then a secondary antibody is made against the primary antibodies and is labeled; the secondary antibody is applied to the tissue section and specifically binds the primary antibodies, indirectly labeling the protein of interest
Indirect
Which is more sensitive and widely used? Direct or indirect immunohistochemistry?
Indirect
Which histological method allows for the specific identification of DNA and RNA sequences?
Hybridization
What is in situ hybridization?
Hybridization that occurs when a solution of nucleic acid is applied directly to cells and tissue sections
