Welcome to Histology at SIU

The basics of tissue organization in the human body are summarized here, in extensively hyper-linked notes and images.  

About this resource (pdf)

Dedication:  Textbooks and websites (including this one) commonly present information ex cathedra, without historical context, as if it had always existed.  But our knowledge of tissues has emerged incrementally over hundreds of years.  This website is dedicated to all the researchers, technicians, artists, and teachers who have invented protocols, observed specimens, published discoveries, and shared their understanding.  A few of these workers are individually commemorated on the eponyms page at this website.

History:   This website has been created and maintained by David G. King, currently Associate Professor Emeritus at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  After initial support from the SIU School of Medicine was withdrawn in 2021, this website was re-established at its current location.

Questions, comments, or error notes are welcome, sent to the email address at the bottom of each page

Accessibility:  "Alternative text" is not provided for most images.  Most images in this website are micrographs illustrating the accompanying text.  That text can be read without regard to the images, except to note that most small images are links to pages whose accompanying text describes details within enlargments of those images.  Therefore, "alternative text" could do little more than duplicate that accompanying text.

Contents

Image Index

Histology Topics for Lincoln Scholars Program   Orientation to the tissue domain (brief essays)   What is histology?   What are the core concepts of histology?   What are the most common patterns of tissue organization?   Throughout this website, most thumbnail images are links to larger, labelled images with additional notes.  (To browse all images, see the image index.)

Von Ebner's 1873 drawing of tissues in the tongue.

Introduction -- Essentials of histology   Basic tissues:  epithelium, connective tissue,   muscle, nerve (more nervous tissue) Microscopy, tissue preparation Skin, inflammation, blood
CRR Cardiovascular system Respiratory system Renal system
NMB (= SSB) Nervous tissue skin  /  muscle  /  bone & cartilage eye  /  ear.
ERG Endocrine system Reproductive systems: Male / Female  Gastrointestinal system
Other tissues NOT represented in this website (partial list)
SAQ (Self Assessment Questions)   Eponyms:  Brief notes on the history of histology
Using this histology resource  /  print resources  /  access to literature  /  Image Index

A few external resources Zoomified Virtual Histology offers many tissues for virtual microscopic examination (at Loyola University Medical Education Network LUMEN).     Webpath, hosted by The University of Utah Eccles Health Sciences Library, is a vast resource of materials related to pathology, including many micrographs of normal and pathological specimens.   University of Michigan Virtual Slidebox, a large collection of pathology specimens for examination by virtual microscopy.   Virtual Pathology at the University of Leeds, searchable collection of pathology specimens for examination by virtual microscopy.   Histology Guide, a collection of slides for virtual microscopy, with extensive supporting materials (and associated print textbook and atlas).  About this website.   The Pathology Guy:  Ed "the Pathguy" Friedlander offers an extensive array of pathology-related resources, including introductory histology.   Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th ed., online textbook by Bruce Alberts, et al., © 2002. (This is "the classic in-depth text reference in cell biology," recommended as a refresher or solid introduction to topics in cell biology).

SEARCH THE SITE:	WWW histology.siu.edu