DICTIONARY - NORMAL TISSUE HISTOLOGY

Normal tissue

The normal histology section of the dictionary is based on representative sections from human tissues. Tissues have been collected from clinical specimens sent to the Department of Pathology at the Uppsala Akademiska hospital, Uppsala, Sweden for diagnostics. All specimens have been collected with consent of patients. All samples have been anonymized in accordance with ethical approval. Examples of normal tissue histology have been selected from regions in these surgical specimens where morphology appears as normal.

Tissues used in the dictionary have been formalin fixed, paraffin embedded and cut in 4 µm thin sections that have been placed on glass slides. Glass slides containing tissue sections have been stained using hematoxylin-eosin (HE). Hematoxylin stains cell nuclei blue and eosin stains the cytoplasm and membrane of cells together with connective tissue and extracellular matrix in various shades of red color. Following HE-staining, the sections of tissue have been scanned to obtain high-quality images corresponding to 40x magnification in a microscope.

Histology is defined as the study of microscopical anatomy of cells. Assessment of histology provides important and basic information for our understanding of biology and medicine. Histology is also an integral part of pathology and microscopy-based diagnostics. Histological structures, in terms of pathological consideration, are thus important to recognize and relate to when distinguishing a particular disease from normal. In particular inter-individual variations of the norm (for example related to age) can present a challenge to distinguish normal from a pathological condition.

Tissue & cell types

Adrenal gland Gallbladder Seminal vesicle
Anal skin Heart muscle Skeletal muscle
Appendix Hippocampus Skin
Bone marrow Kidney Small intestine
Breast Liver Smooth muscle
Bronchus Lung Soft tissue
Caudate Lymph node Spleen
Cerebellum Nasopharynx Stomach, lower
Cerebral cortex Oral mucosa Stomach, upper
Cervix, uterine Ovary Testis
Colon Pancreas Thyroid gland
Duodenum Parathyroid gland Tonsil
Endometrium Placenta Urinary bladder
Epididymis Prostate Vagina
Esophagus Rectum
Fallopian tube Salivary gland
Cerebral cortex Hippocampus Nasopharynx Salivary gland Soft tissue Bronchus Lung Lymph node Liver Adrenal gland Gallbladder Duodenum Small intestine Colon Appendix Smooth muscle Rectum Seminal vesicle Prostate Epididymis Testis Skeletal muscle Caudate Cerebellum Oral mucosa Tonsil Thyroid gland Parathyroid gland Esophagus Heart muscle Breast Stomach Spleen Kidney Pancreas Placenta Fallopian tube Ovary Endometrium Cervix, uterine Vagina Urinary bladder Bone marrow Skin