The State University of Medicine and

Pharmacy N. Testemitanu
CEO of departament of Histology, Cytology and Embryology
Lilian Saptefrati
Vice CEO of departament of Histology, Cytology and Embryology
Tatiana Globa

CYTOLOGY. CELL THEORY.

HISTOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES,
CELLULAR FORMES.

Human organism are state of the cells

Rudolf Virchow.
(1821-1902)

Cytology is the study of the cells.

Cells are the structural units of all living

organisms. In the human body there are
about 200 types of the cells, but they differ
from one another by: shape, size and
function.

 Histology - is the study of the tissues of the

body and how these tissues are arranged
to constitute organs.

Histology involves all aspects of tissue

biology, with the focus on how cells'
structure and arrangement optimize
functions specific to each organ.

Compartments of the cell:

Cell membrane (cytolemma),
cytoplasm,
nucleus.

Cell theory( modern interpretation):

The cell is the fundamental unit of structure and
function in living things.
All cells come from pre-existing cells by division.
Energy flow occurs within cells.
Cells contain hereditary information (DNA) which
is passed from to cell during cell division.
All cells are the same in chemical composition.
The activity of an organism depends on the totel
activity of independent cells.

Basic methods of research in

morphology.

Light microscopy,
Fluorescence microscopy,
Phase-Contrast microscopy,
Confocal microscopy,
Polarizing microscopy,
Electron microscopy ,
Scanning Electron microscopy,
Autoradiography .

What could we do with

collected material?
-

sections,
smears,
prints and
membranes.

Preparation of the smear.

Technics of histological specimens

preparation
collection and fixation

dehydration and clearing

embedding
mounting and staining the section

Fixation
to preserve the structure and molecular
composition , pieces of organs should be
promptly treated by fixatives (formalin).
What for?

for cross-link proteins,

for innactivated the enzymes of autolyzis,
increase the affinity of protoplasm for future
stains.

The process of paraffin embedding, or

tissue impregnation ( for easyer cutting of
tissues), is ordinarily preceded by two
main steps: dehydration and clearing.
The water is first extracted from the
fragments to be embedded by bathing
them successively in a graded series of
mixtures of ethanol and water, usually
from 70% to 100% ethanol (dehydration).

Clearing
Uses for remove alcohol. The clearing
solutions are: xylol, toluol, chloroform which are
miscible in both alcohol and parafin.
Result the tissues infiltrated with one of this
organic solvents become transparent.

Result of embedding into paraffin

Sectioning by microtome.

Staining and mounting

To be studied microscopically sections
must typically be stained or dyed because
most tissues are colorless. Staining permit
distinctions to be made between tissue
components.

Basic dyes
Tissue
components that
stain more readily
with basic dyes
are termed
basophilic
(nuclear
chromatin,
nucleolus).

Acid dyes

Tissue
components that
stain more
readily with acid
dyes are
named
acidophilic or
oxiphilic
( cytoplasm,
collagen fibres,
etc.)

Metachromasia
When some basic dyes
change their color
depending on their
concentration.
Ex.: toluidine blue is
blue in diluted solution
but purple in
concentrated solution.
Staining of the
cartilage matrix it will
change its color.

Light microscope.

Electron microscopy.

Blood smear (of frog)

nucleus
cytoplasm

cell
membrane

Cuboidal-shaped cells from renal

tubules
nucleus
cytoplasm
cell membrane

tubule cavity

Neurons from the ventral

horns of the spinal cord

1. nucleolus
2. nucleus
3. cytoplasmatic
processes