Description
There is lots of scientific talk about tissues; but who studies and researches tissues as a career? (And we are not talking about Kleenex.) Histologists are involved in the branch of biological science that studies the structure of human, animal and plant tissues. Histologists study muscles, bones, nervous tissue, blood, liver, lungs, heart, ears and eyes. They study the organization of tissues at all levels, from the whole organ down to the molecular components of cells.
There are four major types of histological tissues: epithelial tissue, muscular tissue, connective tissue and nervous tissue. Histologists are fascinated by the physiological makeup of our body tissue. They study cell structure and the basic tissues of the mammalian body as well as the main events in the embryonic development. They research the musculo-skeletal anatomy, comparing living humans and apes with fossil hominids. More advanced histologists may research anatomy and neurology specifically studying brain tissue.
Animal tissues are called "epithelium," and they contain closely spaced cells and connective tissues. Histologists look at the electrical impulses of muscles, nerves and blood, that take place within the body. Plants are composed of tissue known as "meristematic tissue," which consists of storage tissue, vascular tissue and photosynthetic tissue. A variety of techniques are used for histological studies, including tissue culture, slide preparation, the use of various fixatives and stains, microtomes for preparing thin sections, light microscopy, electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction.
Some histologists focus their work on genetics, utilizing probes that enable the analysis of specific genetic sequences, they can identify single DNA molecules. Along these lines, they can also determine tissue death, abnormality and regeneration and the reaction of tissue to injury or invading organisms. Since normal tissue has a characteristic appearance, histologic examination is often utilized to identify diseased tissue. Through studying abnormalities in tissue formation, histologists aid in the forward research of medicine.
Most histologists specialize in a specific area of histology such as comparative, embryology, cell biology or anatomy. Comparative histology is concerned with the structural differences of plant and animal forms. The study of similarities and differences in tissue structures forms the basis for classification of both plants and animals. Embryology deals with developing plants, animals or humans until hatching or birth, or germination, in plants. Histologists who study cell biology cover the internal anatomy of the cell, while anatomy is concerned with the study of the physical structure of the body.
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