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Normal Histology Review |
Norm No. 1 Prostate The prostate gland is composed of multiple glandular spaces lines by a basal layer of cuboidal epithelium covered by columnar secretory cells with frequent papillary projections into the gland lumen. The cells are uniform in size and shape. The nuclei are not crowded. They do not have nucleoli that are visible. Glands are separated by fibrovascular stroma.
Norm No. 2 Kidney The kidney excretes soluble waste from the body and controls electrolyte balance. It consists of the cortex and the medulla. Within the outer cortex, glomeruli with delicate capillary loops are seen. The basement membrane is thin and without inflammation or thickening. Bowman’s capsule that surrounds the glomerulus is thin. The interstitium demonstrates no evidence of inflammation or fibrosis. In the areas between the glomeruli, tubules and arterioles are seen. The tubules are intact. The vessels exhibit no narrowing or wall thickening. The inner medulla of the kidney contains only tubules and blood vessels. Larger arteries and veins are located at the interface between cortex and medulla.
Norm No. 3 Liver The liver is the organ that metabolizes nutrients received from the digestive tract. These nutrients and processed by tissue hepatocytes which are large polygonal cells. The hepatocyes are separated by portal triads. The triads consist of an artery, a vein and a bile duct. The bile duct is lined by cuboidal epithelium. The artery has a muscular wall and a flat endothelial lining. The sinuses are well defined and contain a small amount of blood.
Norm No. 4 Ovary Ovary tissue consists of stoma which is composed of elongated stromal cells. Within the stoma are oocytes in various stages of development. Most of the oocytes have not been stimulated to mature. These resting oocytes have very large nuclei with prominent nucleoli. There are corpora albicantia in a bland stroma. The Corpus Luteum of Pregnancy is composed of granulosa cells with abundant foamy cytoplasm. The granulosa cells are arranged in complex folds.
Norm No. 5 Thyroid Thyroid tissue consists of variably-sized, colloid-filled follicles. The colloid is eosinophilic and homogeneous. The glandular thyroid cells are cuboidal. The capsule is intact.
Norm No. 6 Bone marrow (section) Normal bone marrow is about 50% hematopoietic elements and the remainder is mature adipocytes. There is trilineage hematopoiesis present with complete maturation of all cell lines. The myeloid to erythroid ratio is approximately 3:1. Megakaryocytes are present. No lymphoid aggregates are present. The bony trabeculae appear form a normal meshwork.
Norm No. 7 Pancreas The pancreas is comprised of glandular tissue with endocrine and exocrine function. The exocrine pancreas contains lobular arrays of acini. The acinar secretions of the exocrine pancreas are collected by the pancreatic ducts. The ducts are surrounded by a small amount of connective tissue without inflammation or fibrosis (scarring).The endocrine pancreas resides in the islets which are regularly arranged and present within the pancreatic lobules.
Norm No. 8 Appendix The appendix is a tubular organ with a lumen which is lined by mucin secreting columnar epithelium. There is no evidence of acute inflammation. The submucosa and muscle layers are unremarkable. There is no inflammation of the serosa.
Norm No. 9 Aorta The aorta is a large elastic artery. The luminal surface is lined by flat endothelial cells. This is called the “intima”. Adjacent to the intima is the internal elastic lamina. This is composed of elastin and has a corrugated appearance on histological section. Adjacent to the internal elastic lamina is the tunica media which is composed of smooth muscle. Finally, the outermost layer is the adventitia which is composed of connective tissue.
Norm No. 10 Pubic symphysis The pubic symphysis includes cartilage, bone, dense connective tissue and bone as well as skeletal muscles inserting into the bone.
Norm No. 11 Adrenal gland Adrenal tissue is composed of a central medulla and outer cortex. The medulla contains large polygonal neuroendocrine cells. The cortex contains cells with foamy cytoplasm. There is no evidence of hemorrhage or necrosis.
Norm No. 12 Cervix Cervix tissue consists of exocervix which is exposed to the environment of the vagina. The exocervix is covered by non-keratinizing squamous epithelium. The exocervix is continuous with the endocervix via the “transition zone”. The endocervix is covered by glandular epithelium. The lining cells are mucous secreting cells. A few small glands may be seen in the cervix. The cervix proper is composed of smooth muscle. This merges imperceptibly with the smooth muscle of the myometrium.
Norm No. 13 Heart Normal heart tissue sections demonstrate no evidence of fibrosis or hemorrhage. Cardiac myocytes have moderately sized centrally located nuclei. Normal myocytes are not brightly eosinphilic. Normally no inflammation is seen. Normal cardiac myocytes do not show hypertrophy.
Norm No. 14 Pituitary gland The pituitary is an endocrine gland with neurohypophysis and adenohypophysis. The neurohypophysis is composed of spindle cells that are derived from neural crest. These are neurosecretory cells. The adenohypophysis is an endocrine gland which is composed of three histological cell types, acidophils, basophils and chromophobes. The staining properties vary with the hormonal product. For example, growth hormone secreting cells are acidophils.
Norm No. 15 Skin Skin consists of keratinizing stratified squamous epithelium. The keratin layer is eosinophilic. Nuclei are not present. Beneath the keratin layer is a layer of flat epithelial cells with small pyknotic nuclei. Cells are regular and not crowded. These keratinocytes rest upon a layer of basal epithelium and a thin basement membrane. Beneath the epidermis is the dermis which consists of loose connective tissue. Within the dermis are sweat and sebaceous glands. Some slides contain hair follicles. There is no inflammation. The blood vessels are patent and do not contain thromboemboli.
Norm No. 16 Stomach, fundus The normal gastric mucosa of the fundus contains superficial fovea arranged in leaf like fronds and deeper gastric glands. The foveolar cells secrete mucin. The gastric glands include mucous cells, parietal cells, chief cells and enteroendocrine cells.
Norm No. 17 Jejunum This cross section of the jejunum illustrates the complex mucosal villi and crypts that greatly increase the absorptive surface area.
Norm No. 18 Skeletal muscle Skeletal muscle fibers have striations which are easily seen on the longitudinal section. Nuclei are located at the periphery of normal striated muscle fibers.
Norm No. 19 Female breast The female breast is a secretory organ that produces milk during lactation. Breast tissue that is not stimulated to lactate consists of resting apocrine cells arranged in nests and small ductules which are lined by cuboidal epithelium. The secretory units are separated from one another by loose connective tissue.
Norm No. 20 Uterine (fallopian) tube (aka oviduct) The fallopian tube is lined by ciliated columnar epithelium that aid in transport of the ovum to the uterus. The epithelium is arranged in fronds that project into the lumen. The wall consists of smooth muscle and connective tissue.
Norm No. 21 Uterus The uterus is a reproductive organ, capable of enormous growth during pregnancy. It is composed of an inner endometrium which supports the placenta during pregnancy. The glandular endometrium undergoes monthly cycles in response to endocrine influence. It undergoes proliferation and then a secretory phase when it is capable of supporting a fertilized ovum. It is subsequently shed during menstruation. The endometrial here is proliferative. If you look carefully you can see mitotic figures in the endometrial glands. Note the regular spacing and orderly array of the endometrial glands. Beneath the endometrium is the myometrium which is composed of smooth muscle cells.
Norm No. 22 Testis The testis is the male gland responsible for sperm production. There is a fibrous capsule and multiple glands separated by a loose stoma. Within the glands there are mature and immature sperm. Within the stroma there are a few large Leydig cells which are responsible for testosterone production.
Norm No. 23 Epididymis The epididymis is a narrow, tightly-coiled tube connecting the efferent ducts from the rear of each testicle to its vas deferens. Each of the ducts is lined by ciliated columnar epithelium that aid in transport of the sperm for ejaculation. Some of the larger ducts are filled with sperm.
Norm No. 24 Lung The primary function of the lung is gas exchange. Therefore, alveoli have thin walls lined by thin flat pneumocytes and endothelial cells. There is no thickening or fibrosis of the interstitium. The bronchioli are lined with basally oriented ciliated columnar epithelium. The bronchi are lined by similar epithelium. There are mucous glands within the submucosa. The bronchial smooth muscle is not hypertrophied. The pulmonary vessels are patent with no evidence of intimal thickening or muscular hyperplasia.
Norm No. 25 Spleen The spleen is a composed mostly of lymphocytes in a loose blood filled stroma with islands of fibrous tissue. Surrounding the spleen is a dense connective tissue capsule.
Norm No. 26 Trachea The trachea is lined by ciliated columnar epithelium. Within the submucosa are mucous glands. Under the glands is the cartilage that gives the trachea strength.
Norm No. 27 Colon Colon is lined by glandular epithelium with numerous mucin secreting goblet cells. The epithelium is arranged in folds to increase the surface area available for absorption.
Norm No. 28 Submandibular and sublingual salivary glands The submandibular and sublingual salivary glands are sero-mucous exocrine glands, meaning they produce a mixture of serous (watery and proteinaceous) and mucous (viscous and carbohydrate rich) secretions. The submandibular gland is mostly serous whereas the sublingual gland is mostly mucous. There are nests of cells which produce saliva as well as ducts which transport the saliva to the oral cavity. Note the regular orderly array of cells and stroma.
Norm No. 29 Lymph node The lymph node contains a cortex which includes the lymphoid follicles and a medulla which is looser tissue containing the lymphatic channels and blood vessels.
Norm No. 30 Cerebellum This section of cerebellum is from the vermis. The cerebellum is arranged in complex folds called folia. Each folium has a relatively acellular molecular layer, a Purkinje cell layer which contains large Prukinje neurons, a molecular layer which contains small neurons and glia and white matter, which is stained blue in this hematoxylin and eosin/luxol fast blue stained preparation.
Norm No. 31 Urinary bladder The urinary bladder is composed of thick smooth muscle and lined by transitional epithelium.
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