A Histology Laboratory Reflection

Respiratory Vocabulary

Alveolar ducts - elongated airways that have almost no ducts, only alveoli as their peripheral boundary.

Alveolar Sacs - spaces surrounded by clusters of alveoli.

Ciliated cells - tall columnar cells with cilia that project into the mucus covering the surface of the epithelium

Goblet cells - synthesize and secrete mucus

Brush cells - a general name for cells in the respiratory tract that bear short, blunt microvilli

Small granules cells - resemble basal cells but contain secretory granules. These are endocrine cells of the diffuse neuroendocrine system

Basal cells - stem cells from which the other cell types

Olfactory receptor cells - are bipolar olfactory neurons that span the thickness of the epithelium and enter the central nervous system

Supporting or sustentacular cells - columnar cells that are similar to neuroglia cells and provide mechanical and metabolic support to the olfactory receptor cells. They synthesize and secrete odorant binding.

PathPedia

While researching for one of my Histology projects, I stumbled upon this great resource.

http://www.pathpedia.com

This is a global database for pathophysiology, currated by pathologists! It has wonderful collections of histology slides, with very informative captions. It also has an immunology database that I am eager to explore further. The site is for Doctors, researchers, laboratory technicians, medical students, and biology students. So the site carries indepth information and often either has peer reviewed articles or links to them. The site is also open to the public, free of charge, however it is geared towards those who study biology.

Finally, I have found a site that has quality pictures and information I can use for my histology projects. I also will be spending much more time further exploring the website. Hopefully, Ill restrain myself from doing so.....till after I finish my projects!

I hope this post introduces this amazing resource to someone else looking for credible histology slides & information.

Digestive Vocabulary

Esophagus: the esophagus is a fixed muscular tube that delivers food and liquid from the pharynx to the stomach

Submucosa: the submucosa consists of a dense irregular connective tissue layer containing blood and lymphatic vessels, a  nerve plexus, and occasional glands

Muscularis externa: in most parts of the digestive tract the muscularis externa consists of two concentric and relatively thick layers of smooth muscle

Mucosa: the mucosa consists of a lining epithelium, an underlying connective tissue called the lamina propria and the muscularis mucosa composed of smooth muscle

Serosa: the serosa is a serous membrane consisting of a simple squamous epithelium the mesothelium and a small amount of underlying connective tissue

Gastric Mucosa: longitudinal submucosal folds, rugae, allow the stomach to distend when filled

The Late Post - a reflection

The busy, over-streached, suffering the snow ball effect, biology student's Lament

Histology: Epithelium, Basal Lamina, Tunica Adventita, Neuromuscular Junction, Eosinophile, Cadherin, Zonula Occludens, Lymph node, Circum Vitallea, hair follicle

"Wow, this is so interesting, I cant wait to study it, and find out as much as I can. Im gonna be able to fill in so many of the gaps in my knowledge. This is going to be fun! Im gonna read, take notes, make colorful note pages, watch histology vides, look at awesome slides of what Ive been wondering about, ask Questions, watch TED TALKs on Histology (always amazing), draw cool designs influenced by histology, hold discussions with my peers about histology, use the research projects to journey down the rabbit hole, and read other chapters in my text book - just cause a picture caught my eye!"

Night A:
"Finally done with my classes for the day! Now I can read my histo...."Hold on, you have an assignment due for this other class tonight, and a quiz, and that Discussion Post, oh dont forget to do what you said you would do for that particular person.
"Ugh, finally done....now I can read my histology book!" (Ten minutes later) the biology student is peacefully dreaming of epithelial linings, cilia, free surfaces & and basal lamina......with her head nestled in her histology text book.

Night B:
"Im so tired, I havent had a break all day, I dont remember eating lunch. I just want to sleeeeeeeep!" A friendly advise giver "sleep is important, you need to be rested, go to bed." "No, I have so many assignments I have to do!" Proceeds to try to work on the computer, zones out, watches videos, tries to read & has to read the same paragraph three times, contemplates going to bed.....re-musters up focus, has a productive 30 minutes, then.............. "what? Its 3am? It was 1:30 two seconds ago!"  Defeated, stumbles to bed.

Night C:
"I cant take it anymore! Im going to study Histology!" Starts reading histology book (or slides), enjoys reading the new information, begins to get into the text - memorizing, developing questions, associating new info with old info......
"You should do this project!" "You forgot to that lab report" "You havent excersized in a week" "You need to write that paper!"
Student is now feeling guilty for studying Histology instead of completing all the other work. Puts book aside & tries to work on a paper....proceeds very slowly, because mind is still on the histology studies.

Oh Histology, to study you more, to study you more. 

(The author of this rambling post is not looking for special favors, sympathy, or empathy. The author only hopes someone will  be entertained by this post.)

Lunar Histology

So Im on a camping trip with my pathfinder club, its Friday night & we are setting up camp in the dark. Im in camping mode - school mode has long been forgotton, and I am enjoying the break. Its a beautiful night, the sky is clear, the air is cold & refreshing, and the air is so much cleaner. The moon is almost full & is extra bright. I stop to admire the moon, in all of its bright clarity. Its a beautiful moon, and what does my mind come up with? "Oh, its a neutrophil!" (I genuinly ment it, no prior thought)

Then I realized what utter geekness had just come out of my mouth! It was hilarious, I thought I had switched modes, but I guess my brain was still filled with the facts for the exam that morning. Anyway, it was hilarious. So I found a few people around camp who could appriciate the humor.

I also texted a friend who is in medical school. After confirming how geeky my comment had been, and thoroughly rubbing it in my face, she commented that the moon actually is a lymphocyte most of the time. One of the staff camping with us, commented that sometimes the moon is sickled.

Oh what a bunch of geeks we are! It makes life so much more hilarious! Studying biology is fun, interesting, and a great challenge.........the effects it has on my brain are hilarious sometimes.

Design - Inspired by Histology

This post is a light hearted one to emphasize histology through the artistic lens. Take a break from studying, understanding, memorizing, identifying.......take a step back......and wonder at the abstract beauty of Histology. Some of the pictures are of actual tissue, some are histology inspired (whether for asthetic or humor), and some are a little of both. Enjoy. 

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References: 

1. http://www.anatomybox.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Histology-Plates1.jpg
2. http://www.ultralighthistology.com/images/colondetail4.jpg
3. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOkCXtYUMpLHsJVq72DGRXoY7TC_xm6RGtOH2rWRS2711tqXnwt6rATL-K4EnrW-PhLkX0o8ecaI1YYPyIRVg6BsZrk2ynsxCdGWatDtlOyqyoTfpfLAaXVZ3OvSBIDUuuuiAonS2WfU/s1600/4-histology-nail-art.jpg
4. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBRhgt-UsAAAvQ5.jpg
5. http://41.media.tumblr.com/98f13856b33508413329a572482f6306/tumblr_mg5tmyUyit1s24chqo1_1280.jpg
6. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/62/186818508_ceb68c9987.jpg
7. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/98/b2/d0/98b2d0ce04bf3ab7847a78faa8890888.jpg
8. http://www.histology-world.com/image/boneart2t.jpg

Histology Vocabulary

Schmidt-Lanterman cleft: the space between successive lamellae of the myelin.

Internodal segment: myelin between sequential nodes of Ranvier.

Neuregulin (Ngr1): growth factor that regulates myelin sheath thickness.

Transcription factor Sox -10: causes neural crest cells to develop into Schwann cells.

Tracts: the organizational label given to many axons going to or comming from a specific location - these are bundled together  and labeled a tract.

Neuropil: the meshwork of axons, sendrites, and glial processes associated with white matter.

Anterograde (Wallerian) degeneration: axon degeneration  distal to the site of injury.

Histology Reflection

Its interesting. Before this histology course, I was not sure what I was looking at when I looked at histology pictures online. I knew a few things here & there, but always doubted if I was correct. Now, after only a few Histology labs I understand what I am looking at. I am also more confident when I describe the structures I see through the lense of the microscope.  I am not saying that I can correctly  identify every structure in every slide that comes my way. What I am saying is, the practice of looking through the microscope at a variety of tissue samples has trained me to recognize patterns, similar structures, key differences, and other hints I can use to better understand what I am looking at.

I have enjoyed the Histology lab a lot more than I thought I would. Mostly, I was expecting the lab to be similar to the Plant Diversity lab I had experienced. A lab full of interesting things to look at and try to  draw......with not near enough time to see all of them in.  The perfect recipe for frustration. However this lab has far fewer samples required too look at per lab  session, and I have switched from drawing to taking photos of what I see through the microscope.  This provides me with the time to really look at each sample. To enjoy their beauty, appriciate their complexity, see the small details, ask questions & think of answers to those questions. I learn so much more this way, and I have time to enjoy the learning experience.

I am excited to gain more histology skills, so that I can incorporate them into my understanding of biology.

The importance of Art to Science - an Encounter

Visual data & artistic representations help us better understand Biology and remind us that life is complex and beautiful!

  "Huntington disease is a progressive brain disorder that causes uncontrolled movements, emotional problems, and loss of thinking ability (cognition) (1)."

https://instagram.com/p/8MPtIiQBB9/

Mutations in the HTT gene that codes for the protein Huntingtin cause Huntington disease. The function of the protein is still unknown. The mutation is a CAG triplet repeat; normally this pattern is repeated 10 to 35 times within the gene, in individuals with huntington disease the CAG triplet is repeated 36 to 120 times within the gene. Individuals with the CAG triplet repeated between 36 and 39 times may or may not develop Huntington disease. The longer gene causes production of abnormally long Huntingtin proteins that are then "cut into smaller, toxic fragments that bind together and accumulate in neurons, disrupting the normal functions of these cells"(1).

"This illustration shows potassium levels in astrocytes -- cells in your nervous system -- disrupted by Huntington’s Disease, a genetic disorder that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. In this artistic rendering, created by @TEDFellow Janet Iwasa and scientist Baljit Khakh, potassium is represented by glowing points of light. Those points show how potassium accumulates in astrocytes and not in the surrounding neuropil, contradicting the idea that Huntington’s Disease is caused by neuronal dysfunction. To see more of Janet’s scientific illustrations, visit go.ted.com/huntingtons" - TED original Instram Commemt (2). 

Originally this was what my topic was going to be for this blog, then I visited the TED link in the Instagram post. I watched a video about animating biological processes. This caught my attention aswell. The presenter had an amazing idea (as most TED speakers do) to create open source, simple to use, animation software that would allow biology researchers the ability to animate their hypothesis. This is increadible, it would allow researches to see their ideas and/or results from a totally new perspective; help students better understand complex and interconnected biological processes; shed light on possibly incorrect hypotheses (like the photo above does); and reveal the true beauty of biology at the molecular level. The software is called Molecular Flipbook, and is free to download.

Then I thought about the beautiful artwork on my Cell & Molecular Biology book. The artwork is that of David Goodsell - an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. It is so important to have people creating visual representations of the cellular processes. Visuals help us better understand what is going on. Visuals are also very beautiful. 

Don't think of Biology as a bunch of facts to memorize, medical information, strange protein names, or random multi-cellular critters. There is a huge potential for art inherent in the study of Biology. This is because, living things are complex and beautiful. Take advantage of all the art linked to biology, enjoy the art, enjoy the beauty of life. 

References: 

1. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/huntington-disease
2. https://instagram.com/p/8MPtIiQBB9/
3. http://www.ted.com/talks/janet_iwasa_how_animations_can_help_scientists_test_a_hypothesis?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=IGTalks
4. https://www.molecularflipbook.org/
5. http://mgl.scripps.edu/people/goodsell/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Goodsell

Histology Staining Ch: Vocabulary

Microtome: a specifically designed slicing machine upon which samples are placed to be cut with a steel knife.

Autoradiography: process in which radioactively tagged precursrs of the molecule are incorporated by cells and tissue before fixation.

Eosin: a type of acid dye - which carries a net negative charge on its colored portion.

Basic Dye: carries a net positive charge on its colored portion.

Eyewire

I found something last weekend that has me excited. The kind of excited that has you talking about it, mulling over it, thinking about it when your suppose to be studying something else.

Let me tell you what it is. It is Eyewire - an opportunity for anyone to help advance neuroscience.

One of the most challenging aspects of neuroscience is understanding what the brain (or in this case - retina) -at the cellular level - looks like. Where are the synapses? Which neurons connect with which neurons? And so on. One of the ways to find out is to assemble 3D models or reconstructions of sections of the neural system.

The process of reconstructing every neuron & the synappses it forms with others & their supporting cells..........is lengthly and time consuming to say the least. One lab has come up with a way to speed up the process and allow anyone to contribute to groundbreaking science!

Eyewire: an online game where you can reconstruct neurons from electron micrographs! Its free, easy to learn, social (there's a live chat, a blog, a FB group, etc), has a beautiful and easy to use user interface, and the player is contributing to the one of the next great scientific  acheivements!

Find out for yourself, the link below is to the blog, from there you can also watch videos and visit the online game.
http://blog.eyewire.org/about/

Link to Histology: viewing thousands of cells in 3D! By building the 3D models, we will discover so many new things! Histology on a grand scale!

An Encounter with 3D Modeling of the Cortex

If you are like me, You prefer to experience things in 3D rather than in 2D. So when the opportunity comes to do so in the microscopic world of Biology, you get excited. Especially, when its a highly detailed, informative, complex, intricate, colorful, moving, beautiful section of the prefrontal cortex. Thats right, someone took the time to reveal such a beautiful piece of art. As art alone it is beautiful & complex, but when you think about what goes on in this microscopic part of the brain and how it interacts with the rest of the brain, and what the results of those interactions are?.................. Awesome!

If you would like to see the video this is from here is the link: https://youtu.be/8YM7-Od9Wr8

The 3D model was originally a part of the following paper:
"Saturated Reconstruction of a Volume of Neocortex" by: Narayanan Kasthuri8correspondenceemail, Kenneth Jeffrey Hayworth9, Daniel Raimund Berger, Richard Lee Schalek, José Angel Conchello, Seymour Knowles-Barley, Dongil Lee, Amelio Vázquez-Reina, Verena Kaynig, Thouis Raymond Jones, Mike Roberts10, Josh Lyskowski Morgan, Juan Carlos Tapia11, H. Sebastian Seung12, William Gray Roncal13, Joshua Tzvi Vogelstein14, Randal Burns, Daniel Lewis Sussman, Carey Eldin Priebe, Hanspeter Pfister, Jeff William Lichtmancorrespondenceemail

http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(15)00824-7?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867415008247%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Why I picked "Art...On a Microscopic Scale" as the Title of this Blog

Histology is the study of the tissues that make up organisms and the cells that make up those tissues. Since we rely heavily on vision as humans, this means Histology involves a lot of visual data. 

• Cross sections of tissue mounted on slides
• 3D reconstructions of various structures
• 3D intact structures that have been made transparent to an extent and per-fused with a particular marker
• Images of tissues

The reason I am most looking forward to this class, is simply the beauty and artistry that I will get to see. Yes, the information I will learn is interesting and I am eager to learn it. But there is a quality to histology that is even more attractive to me - art. The beauty with which each structure is created is unique and similar to many styles of art. 

Renal Medulla - 1

Its a long jump, but the pattern I see here in the renal medulla reminds me of things like Van Gogh's Starry Night over the Rhone, Aboriginal Dreamtime art, and the painting style of Monet. An organic, abstract pattern of various sizes of dots. 

Camille Monet and a Child in the Artist' Garden in Argenteuil - 4

Starry Night over the Rhone - 5

Dreamtime Sisters - 6

Another Reason I appreciate Histology as a type of art - is because the slides themselves have qualities that, if described with terms typically applied to art, make them a type of art. One of my favorite TV shows is NCIS.  A character on the show (Abbey) has decorated her office with images taken with different lab techniques. The images themselves are visual data that she had used to solve cases in the past, but they are also beautiful in their own right. Similarly - slides of tissue can be as well.

Central Vein of Liver - 2

The white space (the cavity within the central vein) has abstract lines  radiating out of it, like a sun or the petals of a flower. The deeper purple of the nuclei add another level of design to the image. the image is busy, but the blank space in the middle allows the eye to rest - this could be a good focal piece. 

Brain (Cerebellum) - 3

This is a beautiful design you might incorporate into a choral reef themed room, hang on the wall, design a modern coat hanger based off of. The design is in different shades of the same color. If this were a painting, I would say the darker purple was used to create an outline of the design of he lighter purple. Or maybe the dark purple creates a design of the interlocking and overlapping leaves of a tropical rain forest. The white spaces would be the light shining through the leaves. 

The body is a complex thing of machinery, a powerful computer, an organism. These are all ideas that have been used to describe the body in the past and influence the way we think about the body. Whether it be human, mamal, reptile, or mullusc. I would like to present another lense through which to view cells, tissues, organs, and organisms as a whole. As beautiful pieces of art. Because they are complex and beautiful, no one can deny that. 

References: 

1. http://www.siumed.edu/~dking2/crr/RN021b.htm
2. https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php?title=File:Liver_histology_101.jpg
3. http://www.sporcle.com/games/sbme/histology-slideshow
4. http://www.wikiart.org/en/claude-monet/madame-monet-and-child
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night
6. http://www.aboriginalartstore.com.au/artists/colleen-wallace-nungari/dreamtime-sisters-191/