Microscopic tissues

[Histologistics]

Histology is the study of tissue, all tissue types and species. We take live tissue and fix it, so that is no longer degrading, so it stays in it's original form. Then we process the tissue, take all the water out and replace it with paraffin. The specimen is then cut on a machine called a microtome. It is cut very thin, 2-10 microns and placed on a glass slide. Typically it is then stained with hematoxylin and eosin or (H&E), although there are many other stains. The hematoxylin stains the tissue structures a purple color that are basic or alkaline such as the nuclei. The eosin will stain the structures different hues of pink that are acidic such as the cytoplasm, muscle, ground substance and red blood cells. The H&E allows viewing of basic structures of all tissue types.

Did you know that there is little microscopic difference in animal tissue verses human. I have been in histology for about 10 years. In that time I have worked for both animal and human companies. Part of the job of a histologist is to know and recognize what all different tissue types look like under the microscope. Researchers who study animals send in their specimens for histology will typically get at least one H&E slide for each. During the course of my career I have looked at hundreds of thousands of different slides. I looked at mouse and rat and dog slides. There was clams and muscle, whale, dolphin, seal studies. Snake and drosophila, fish and lobster organs were sent in. In all those different animals, the tissue structures changed very little. I was able to locate most organ structures in every animal type. The organ structures are so similar to human that it is almost discernible under the microscope. We have mouse tissue pictures up on our site at link removed by moderator if you are interested.

The field is little known to the outside world. We are the backbone of most animal research, human biopsies, surgeries, disease detection where tissue is sampled. This can be an exciting field to work in. In the current market there is a great demand for histologists. The older baby boomer generation is retiring at an alarming rate where these positions are not being filled. Therefore histologists now have there choice of jobs all over the world.

Edited July 24, 2012 by imatfaal
removal of link

[imatfaal]

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Moderator Note

This is not the start of a debate - and is definitely not news. I am gonna close this thread as I cannot see how it can progress.

we do have a rule about not advertising commercial sites - so I have also removed the link.