What is pathological anatomy?

Tissue processing is a very important part of any histology laboratory, and begins with obtaining the tissue under study. In the case of plant tissues, samples are directly taken from the different organs that make up the plant body, while human and animal tissues can be obtained in different ways through Biopsies (excisional, incisional, endoscopic, colposcopic, etc. .) and by necropsy / autopsy.

The samples are usually fixed with liquid solutions called fixatives, which are used to keep the cellular and molecular structures unchanged during the subsequent processing and with an organization as close as possible to how they were in the living sample.

The fabric should be washed to remove excess fixative (chemical). The excess of fixative during the subsequent infiltration process, even in the microtomy, could affect the histological sections, and for this reason it should be washed with distilled water.

Microtomy is the discipline that deals with obtaining fine serial sections from tissues included in paraffin blocks for their subsequent study under optical and / or electronic microscopy, which makes it one of the basic pillars of procedural techniques of Pathological anatomy. The microtome is a mechanical device that allows obtaining micrometric thick tissue sections that can be used later for microscopic study. These devices use steel, glass or diamond blades, depending on the type of sample being sliced ​​and the desired thickness of the cut sections.

History of the microtome

The history of microtomes began with the beginning of light microscopes. In order to analyze objects, they had to be fine enough for light to pass through. The first microtomes were originally simple blades (usually razor blades) with which cuts were made manually. As the demands on preparations were increasing, it was necessary for microtomes to be developed.