thumb|Histologic specimen being placed on the stage of an [[optical microscope]]
right|300px|thumb|Human [[lung tissue stained with hematoxylin and eosin as seen under a microscope]]
Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy, microanatomy is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues.
Embedding
Tissues are embedded in a harder medium both as a support and to allow the cutting of thin tissue slices.
Staining
Biological tissue has little inherent contrast in either the light or electron microscope.
In the early 1830s Purkynĕ invented a microtome with high precision.
The 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to histologists Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal. They had conflicting interpretations of the neural structure of the brain based on differing interpretations of the same images. Ramón y Cajal won the prize for his correct theory, and Golgi for the silver-staining technique that he invented to make it possible.
See also
- National Society for Histotechnology
- Slice preparation
Notes
References
</references>