The histology so far has given details of the appearance of dead cells,
tissues and organs, and of their functions, but this functional knowledge cannot
be derived from the microscopic examination of a single fixed specimen. Cell
function is learned by applying microscopy is such experimental situations as
follow.
. Going over methods of morphology conveys the idea of histology as an
active science, helping solve basic and clinical problems. Unfortunately, a
factual, note-style format does a disservice in not contributing to another
aspect. Outlining techniques gives no feel for the worth of the results of
their application as evidence for the descriptions and stories of histology.
Plausible though they may sound, hypotheses of function must, above all,
satisfy the evidence, old and new, and be appraised with an ever alert and
sceptical mind.
2 Changes in the number of cells
Examples:
l Normal and physiological
An increase in the number of anterior pituitary alpha cells in pregnancy
suggested that they secrete a substance needed by the pregnant or
post-partum woman - prolactin hormone.
2 Pathological
A decrease in the number of anterior-pituitary acidophil (epsilon) cells in one
kind of dwarfism, relative to those seen normally, implied that they secrete
something stimulating growth - somatotrophin.
3 Changes in individual cell morphology
Examples:
l Normal and physiological
The cross-banding patterns of contracted and relaxed skeletal muscle fibres
were evidence for the 'sliding-filament' theory of contraction.
2 Experimentally manipulated
Numbers of granules in rat pancreatic-islet beta cells, before and after the
administration of diabetes-inducing alloxan, indicated a secretion and storage
of the hormone, insulin, by these cells.
Further detailed information on histotechnique (including TEM methods and images) can be found under "Histopathology' at E Klatt's WebPath - U. Utah
l Special staining techniques exist for many structures and materials.
l Methods have been given for blood (Chapter l7.A), bone (Chapter 7.D),
and nervous tissues (Chapters 10.C.3 and 11.F.l.).
2 A need for special stains has been mentioned for epithelial cell outlines,
basal laminae, ground substances, elastic and reticular fibres, osteoid,
melanocytes, bile canaliculi, neurosecretion and other stored secretions,
Golgi body, mitochondria, etc.
3 By and large, transmission EM has superseded the LM staining of cell
organelles, but many other special stains, including ones for bacteria and
other pathological things, e.g., amyloid, are still used.
2 Blood vessels within an organ can be revealed by:
l Injection of the vessels with red carmine-gelatin, which is allowed to set,
before thick sections are cut for microscopy.
2 Injection of the vessels with a coloured resin that sets in, maintains, and
reveals the vascular pattern, after the organic tissue is destroyed -
corrosion cast method. The cast can also be viewed by SEM.
3 Injection of the vessels with a radio-opaque suspension, which makes them
visible with magnified roentgenography - microangiography.
4 A capillary bed can be demontrated by immunostaining for endothelium (e.g., for CD31), and
viewing the thick section with laser confocal scanning microscopy.
3 Chemical basis for structural staining
It is the chemical nature of a structure that permits it to be stained by a
particular stain. Its protein and other materials contain groups which bind
the staining chemical.
l Thus a protein may have active carboxyl (COO-) or phosphoric
(HPO42-) groups, able to bind covalently with the basic
chromophoric ions, of, for example, methylene blue (tetramethylthionine
chlorhydrate).
2 The same protein, at a lower pH, may have active amine (NH3+) groups which
can bind acidic stains, e.g., potassium eosinate.
3 Because of this amphoteric character of proteins, pH thus determines which
stain reacts with a particular protein, and also the intensity of the staining.
For instance, raising the pH increases the staining by basic stains.
4 At a pH of around 6, some proteins are acidophilic, others and the
nucleic acids are basophilic. Hence the use of combined stains,
with two or more ingredients to reveal more structures.
5 Even though the staining pH may be increased above 6, certain materials,
e.g., haemoglobin of red blood cells and granules of eosinophil white blood
cells, continue to give an acidophil reaction. Oxyphil, oxyntic,
eosinophilic, and acidophilic are used synonymously for cells or
components behaving in this way.
6 Mordants are used as an intermediary for some stains to effect an
indirect union between tissue groups and radicals of the dye, e.g.,
for haematoxylin's active derivative haematein.
4 Orthochromatic and metachromatic staining
l Orthochromatic staining is usual. The structure stains with the
colour of the stain employed, e.g., collagen, green with light green.
2 Metachromatic staining (Chapter 5.C.6) is seen with some materials,
e.g., cartilage matrix. The dye, say toluidine blue, combines with the
sulphated proteoglycan in such a way that the dye molecules aggregate, causing
a colour change from blue to reddish-purple.
5 Progressive and regressive staining
l Progressive staining leaves the section in the dye until it is
adequately coloured.
2 Regressive staining overstains the tissue, then the excess stain is
removed or differentiated out of the section by a solvent or oxidizing
agent.
Specific and selective staining
l Specific staining shows just one structure or material.
2 Selective staining preferentially stains one structure or material;
others are stained, but less strongly.
7 Vital staining involves the injection of materials into a living animal to reveal, say, macrophages (Chapter 5.A.4), or newly formed bone matrix (Chapter 7.F.5). Supra-vital staining is applied to live cells held briefly in culture, see below (l.3.l).
l Fat
l Sudan dyes dissolve in fat, preserved by frozen sectioning,
and colour it. This does not involve ionic combination.
2 Osmium tetroxide forms a black complex with unsaturated fat
and, at the same time, acts as a fixative.
2 Glycogen, glycoproteins and proteoglycans
l These have
H H H H
| | | |
- C - - C- or - C - - C - linkages that
| | | |
OH OH OH NH2
H
/
2 are oxidized by Periodic Acid to - C (aldehyde) groups
\\
O
3 which restore colour to Schiff's reagent (hence PAS technique).
4 Colourless Schiff's reagent/leucofuchsin is prepared by bleaching basic
fuchsin with sulphurous acid.
3 Deoxyribose-nucleic acid
l DNA of the nucleus could be shown by the Feulgen reaction:
2 mild acid hydrolysis unmasks aldehyde groups of the DNA, but leaves
the RNA unchanged.
3 Schiff's reagent then reveals these free aldehyde groups.
4 A control is provided by repeating the procedure after a
pretreatment with deoxyribonuclease, the enzyme known to remove specifically
DNA.
4 Enzymes
l Enzymes require careful preservation by various methods:
4 Electron-microscopic control for cell fractions
6 Actin
l When EM shows cytoplasmic filaments 4-7 nm thick, treat a section with a
solution of heavy meromyosin (HMM).
2 If the filaments are F-actin, they should bind HMM at regular intervals,
and oriented away from any Z lines or densities. The filaments thus become
'decorated' with arrowheads in EM.
3 Current methods of choice are immunostaining, or the use of phalloidin
which binds actin, and can be conjugated to rhodamine for fluorescent visualisation.
l Autofluorescence
Porphyrins and vitamin A are naturally occurring autofluorescent
materials of interest.
2 Induced fluorescence
.
Formaldehyde converts the catecholamines to fluorescent quinoline compounds.
The UV microscopy of formaldehyde-fixed sections shows the distribution of
norepinephrine, for example, in the sympathetic, post-ganglionic, nerve fibres
and adrenal medulla. An APUD cell (Chapter 27.G), if given a suitable
precursor, should form an amine, in which a formaldehyde-induced fluorescence
can be shown.
Immunofluorescent visualization involves:
l The preparation of a pure sample of the material (peptide or
polysaccharide), whose distribution in the tissues to be studied.
2 Injection of this substance into a rabbit, whose plasma cells will
treat it as an antigen and produce antibodies against it. Testing
the rabbit serum for antibody activity. Conjugation of the serum
antibody with fluorescein isothiocyanate to make its position traceable, when
viewed in UV light.
3 A better way is to fuse antibody-forming and malignant mouse lymphocytes
in vitro and clone them. Kohler and Milstein's procedure thus taps, in
combination, the potentials of antibody specificity and tumour growth, in the
making of a monoclonal antibody (MoAb).
4 Treating, with the fluorescein-labelled antibody, a section
from the animal or person in which the protein of interest may be present.
The antigen will combine with and hold the antibody.
5 UV microscopy of the section, after washing out the uncombined
antibody, reveals the location of the antigen, i.e., the material of interest,
for instance, to show that a particular peptide hormone is in only a certain
type of cell, already categorized by its staining properties and EM
morphology, e.g., prolactin in acidophil anterior-pituitary cells.
In practice, for stronger binding and better visualization, the method
employing a tagged secondary antibody is more frequently used than just
one antibody.
6 The very strong bond between avidin and biotin is the basis
for other very effective means of tagging reagents for immunohistology.
7 Immunostaining, with its high specificity and sensitivity, is used in
electron microscopy by conjugating the antibody not with fluorescein, but with:
.. (a) ferritin, recognizable as granules; or
.. (b) a peroxidase that, when incubated with a substrate, gives a
visible reaction product;
.. (b) gold particles, which do not react, are visible, and are of
standardized sizes, so that two materials can be tested for at the same time, for
any co-localization, or separate distributions.
l Fibroblasts and collagen
l Fibroblasts use the amino acid proline to form collagen.
2 If an animal is injected with proline, having some hydrogen replaced by
tritium, this labelled or tagged proline is used by the
fibroblast as if it were normal proline.
3 However, the tritium emits beta radiation, i.e., electrons. The
presence of this radioactive emission can be shown by its action on the silver
halide of a photographic emulsion, coating the histological section as a
film.
4 The emulsion is exposed for several weeks to the radioactivity, before being
developed and fixed.
5 Sites of concentration of radioactive material are marked by black
grains, seen as black coiled threads in the EM. (The grains lying over
particular structures may be counted.)
6 Thus proline, for example, can be followed into the fibroblast and its
organelles, and then later into the collagen fibres themselves, by taking
tissue, e.g., wound tissue, from animals at various times after the
injection of the tagged material.
2 DNA-synthesis
l Another example, with very widespread application, employs an injection of
tritiated thymidine.
2 This material is used in the synthesis of the deoxyribose-nucleic
acid (DNA) of the nucleus that occurs during interphase, prior to cell
division.
3 Tissue specimens taken after injection show radioactivity in only the cells
experiencing DNA synthesis, while the tagged thymidine was circulating in the
body.
4 The cells may migrate, which is shown by a change from their previous
position.
5 This method also shows how mitotically active a particular tissue is, for
instance, the gut epithelial cells are very active and move up from the crypts
on to the villi, before being shed in only four days.
The technique also yields valuable data on the migrations and cell kinetics
involved in the development (histogenesis) of tissues.
6 This radioactive approach is being supplanted by letting cells incorporate,
as the thymidine analogue, bromodeoxyuridine, which can be recognized
by a monoclonal antibody (MoAb).
In either case, the method is limited, if a continuation of cell division
dilutes the marker until it is indistinguishable from background.
3 RNA-synthesis
Labelled uridine is injected for RNA; inadvertently labelled DNA can be
removed by DNase before putting on the emulsion.
4 Rate of utilization of material
Persistence of a labelled material at a site indicates a slow rate of turnover
(the label should have a long half-life).
l Total extirpation of an organ
What loss of function? What recovery of function? Associated with what
compensatory changes in other organs? e.g., castration results in a
degranulation, then an increased activity of the pituitary gonadotroph cells.
2 Partial extirpation of an organ or tissue
Extent of regeneration of the remaining tissue? What recovery of function? e.g.,
regeneration of liver. What follows extirpation of the nervous supply to an
organ, or the ligaturing of its arterial supply or venous drainage? e.g.,
study of the re-innervation of denervated muscle.
3 Transplantation of tissue or organ
Can the transplanted tissue survive in the new site? Functional value of the
transplanted tissue? e.g., in endocrine research, clinical organ replacement
of blood vessels, cornea, kidney, lung, etc. Reaction of the site to the
transplanted tissue? e.g., problems of immunity, induction phenomena.
4 Implantation of substitute materials
Reaction of the site to the implant? e.g., the use of implants to strengthen
weak or broken bones; joint replacements; plastic heart valves; and pacemakers.
5 Parabiotically paired animals
The vascular systems of two live animals are connected so that the same blood
passes through both. What material or cells mediating a response to a stimulus
in one animal is borne in the blood, via the connection, to evoke a response
in the other?
2 Micromanipulative techniques are used under direct microscopic control
: e.g.,
l To dissect out individual cells, e.g., for tissue culture, transplantation
of nuclei, biochemical analysis, physiological measurement; to irradiate
parts of a cell in tissue culture, e.g., individual chromosomes at anaphase.
2 To effect surgical repairs, e.g. microsurgery of the eye, auditory
ossicles, nerves, and blood vessels.
l In vivo (in the living organism)
l Perspex observation chambers set in the rabbit's ear, the skin
of the mouse's back, or in the skull.
2 Frog's foot web, amphibian tail, human nail bed, and
the human skin window.
3 Visible transplantation sites, such as the anterior chamber of the
eye, and the chorio-allantoic membrane of the hen's egg with a window
set in the shell.
4 Natural and surgically made fistulae between a viscus and the skin.
5 Exenteration of an organ, e.g., exposing the living spleen for
trans-illumination on a microscope stage, and the study of its blood flow.
2 Tissue and organ culture
(In vitro - separated from the whole organism and its many interacting
factors for control.)
l Careful and aseptic extirpation of the living organ or tissue
(perhaps followed by an enzymatic dissociation of the cells, if only a
certain kind of cell is desired).
Cell sorters then allow one to separate
cells according to cell-surface markers; or cells may be 'panned for', by
coating a dish with a material to which only one type sticks.
2 The tissue to be cultured is placed on a raft or adheres to the side
of a tube at or near the gas-medium interface, in an incubator
held at body temperature.
3 The gas phase provides oxygen for aerobic processes and CO2 for pH
regulation; the liquid medium has nutrients to maintain the cells'
activities.
4 Agents added to the medium may promote cell proliferation, e.g.,
insulin or a growth factor.
5 A cell response to other single variables (e.g., Ca2+ in the case of
parathyroid cells, male sex hormone for prostatic cells, vitamin A
for bone or cartilage) may be investigated by:
.. (a) observing the live tissue,
.. (b) studying the cells by EM and LM after fixation,
.. (c) measuring biochemically what the cells themselves are contributing to the
medium.
6 The reaction of the cells to bacteria, viruses, chemotherapeutic and toxic
agents, and to embryonic growth and inducing factors may be examined by these
methods. Examples:
l Techniques
l Chromosomes of cultured cells
Locate the particular DNA sequence o (gene) in:
(i) nuclear DNA of interphase cells
. . (ii) DNA of metaphase chromosomes
. . . . .
DAPI-stained __ . . .
. / o \ . . .
nucleus->/ ^ \ . . \./ \./ .
. \ o / . . / \ / \ .
. \ __^/ . . / \ o o .
. . . / \ .
. . . .
. . \./ .
INTERPHASE . / \ .
. . .
ARRESTED METAPHASE
STEPS
1 Separately label probe DNAs
DNA - biotin - yellow FLUORESCEIN (FITC) } colours seen in
DNA - digoxigenin - antibody to digox - red RHODAMINE } UV light
2 Separately denature the target DNA and probe DNAs to make them
single-stranded, and able to hybridize.
2 Diseases (examples)
1 The DiGeorge syndrome results from a one-copy submicroscopic
deletion on the long arm of 22 (22q11). The variable picture includes defects
in thoracic, neck, and facial development. The abnormal heart and aorta call
early attention to the infant. The thymus and/or parathyroids may be absent,
causing an immune deficiency (infections) and/or hypocalcaemia.
2 Leukaemia (chronic myeloid/granulocytic)
4 Mongolism (Down's syndrome)
5 Intersex states (genetic)
3 Basic research
l Chromosome damage
Metaphase chromosome preparations are used to determine what doses of noxious
agents, e.g., radiation and drugs, given previously to the tissue, cause
breakages and other structural damage to chromosomes.
2 Chromosome markers
________| |Electron-emitting, heated FILAMENT
| $$$ |
| . |
| ~~~~~~.~~~~~~ | Electron-accelerating ANODE
| __ . __ |
| |XX . XX| | Electromagnetic CONDENSER coil
| |XX . XX| |
| . |
Shielded | . |
air-tight | ------> | Object in SPECIMEN-HOLDER able
COLUMN | __ . __ | to be manipulated from outside
| |XX . XX| |
| |XX . XX| | Electromagnetic OBJECTIVE coil
| . |
| . |
| . |
___| < . . . . . . |
___ __ . __ |
To PUMP to | |XX . XX| | Electromagnetic PROJECTIVE coil
maintain | |XX . XX| |
vacuum | . |
| . |
| . |
|___:::::::::::::>__| Image on FLUORESCENT SCREEN (direct)
or PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATE (indirect)
3 Scanning electron microscope
l The tissue is fixed, carefully dehydrated, and coated under vacuum with
very thin conducting layers of carbon and/or gold.
2 In the SEM (Fig. l3) the electron beam, l0 nm wide, scans the coated
specimen, causing the emission of secondary electrons, the quantity of which
can yield information about the nature of that area of the specimen's surface.
3 The secondary electrons pass to a charged scintillator, where their energy
is changed to light, then converted to an electrical potential for more
amplification, before being applied as the signal controlling the beam
intensity in a cathode ray tube (CRT).
4 The electron beam of the CRT scans its fluorescent screen in synchrony
with the 'scope beam, and builds up a picture of the surface of the specimen,
which can be viewed on the screen or photographed.
5 The image has much greater depth than in LM, and yields a strong 3-D
impression, when stereo pairs are photographed and viewed. The magnification
range is wide, l0-l00 000, with l0 nm resolution. But the image is of the
surface, unless the tissue was fractured, and is influenced greatly by the
tilt of the specimen to the beam.
6 The beam also makes the specimen emit X-rays of wavelengths characteristic
of the chemical elements in that part of the specimen. Thus, with an X-ray
detector and analyser, the SEM acts as an electron-probe microanalyser, e.g.,
revealing the nature of inhaled particles in specific parts of the lung.
______|_|______
Filament | $$$ |
| . |
Anode + | ~~~~~ . ~~~~~ | Cathode ray tube/CRT
| . | Screen
| __ . __ | \:::::::::::::::::/
First lens | |XX . XX| | \ . /
| |XX . XX| | \ . /
| __ . __ | | . |
Second lens| |XX . XX| | ___________ | . |
| |XX . XX| | | Scan | | . |
| . | |_generator_| | . |
| @ . @..|.................::....................|..@ . @..|
Scanning | @ @ . @ @..|.......................................|..@ . @..|
coils | @ @ . @ @. | Electron beams . . . in the 'scope and| @ . @ |
| @ @ . @ @. | CRT synchronously scan the specimen **| @ . @ |
| @ . @ | and the fluorescent CRT screen | . |
| __ . __ | | . |
Final lens | |XX . XX| | | _ _._ _ |
| |XX . XX|__|__________ ___________ | / . |
| s . / _____________|------|___________|----------/ . |
| t . / / | Scintillator Amplifier | . |
____| |a** / | |_____$$$_____|
Pump <-____ | g " | | |
| | |e " |
|______|_|___"__|
| | "
W | " " " " X-ray detector
Stage tilt W
& rotate
Fig. 13 Scanning electron microscope
3 Atomic-force microscopy
1 Electron microscopy subjects the specimen to harsh processing. Atomic-force
microscopy (AFM) yields 0.2 nm resolutions of unfixed, uncoated, and partly
hydrated biological specimens, without the need for a vacuum.
Chromatin and collagen fibrils are two of many structures examined raw, and
with mild treatments to enhance contrast.
2 AFM relies on the near-field interactions between a charged, sharp tip/probe
and the specimen surface, very close by.
Fig. 14 Atomic-force microscopy in constant-force mode
visual image
^
image | processing
|
-------------- COMPUTER -----------------
| | feedback
| |---controller--
scan|control | |
| mirror | |
| laser ~ ~ ~ ~ photodetector |
| ~ ~ array |
| ~ ~ piezo
| ~ ~ ceramic
| ____~_~________ force-sensing cantilever to keep
probe v scans v <............force
specimen___Oo0ooÖoOOooO0..0_____ constant
This mode works with the repulsive force.. between the scanning
probe v and the surface of the specimen. The reflecting spring cantilever
holding the probe is kept still, as the piezo ceramic maintains the repulsive
force constant, by adjusting sample height. The piezo ceramic also separates
the variable voltage information that is turned into visual contrast for that
point on the specimen. Correlated with the scan-control record, the contrast
data offer an image of the surface topography.
Alternative modes to constant-force are: constant-height, for the sample, while the deflections of the cantilever are recorded; and tapping, where the cantilever oscillates.
2 X-ray diffraction
l Used to determine the molecular structure of crystallizable
materials.
2 Bone mineral's diffraction pattern was compared to find the best match
with the patterns of various calcium salts of known composition.
3 Proteins and nucleic acids that can be crystallized, e.g.,
from haemoglobin and DNA to histones and DNA-histone complexes, have been
very fruitfully studied to relate changes in their molecular conformation
with the tasks that they do. Enough is known to make sound predictions of
protein molecular shape and active sites, from the amino-acid (and nucleotide)
sequences. Gorgeous, fascinating, and revealing, describe the images of the
anatomy of these biological molecules.
l Morphometry
l Direct: e.g., maceration in acid and fixative of the testis, teasing
out of the epididymis and measurement of its length; similar studies on
individual smooth muscle fibres.
2 Direct by sampling: e.g., maceration of the kidney to free
the glomeruli in their corpuscles, homogenization, dilution by a known factor,
and counting of the number of glomeruli in samples in a counting chamber;
counting of blood cells and corpuscles (Chapter l7.A).
3 Indirect by reconstruction or casts: e.g., from serial
histological sections, construct a model of lung alveoli and measure their
surface area; make a plastic cast of blood vessels or lung alveoli for
measurement.
To have most structures sufficiently clearly visible for measurement means
examination in thin histological sections, which bring in their train three
difficulties:
.. (a) artefacts, such as shrinkage and compression distort absolute and
relative values;
.. (b) they offer only a sample of the whole structure;
... (c) knowledge of the shape and extent of the structures in their third
dimension is lost.
A mathematical analysis and specific formulae can be applied to data measured
from sections to deduce values for structures, as three dimensional entities,
such as volumes, surface areas, mean widths of trabeculae, etc.
2 Stereology
Is such a mathematical treatment, leading to formulae, of the relations
between:
3 Aids to measurement and quantitative analysis
l Eyepiece grids and graticules, counting chambers, stage micrometers:
for direct measurements at the microscope.
2 The section's microscopic image may be projected, enlarged, on a screen
for tracing on graph paper, or for tracing outlines, e.g., of cells, to be
cut out and weighed.
3 The image may be recorded permanently as a light or electron micrograph,
for measurements and tracings.
4 Features of observed images, micrographs or tracings can be entered, by
means of a scanner or digitizing tablet, into an image-analysing computer,
programmed to calculate such quantities as areas, number of intercepts, etc. -
data that can, via the stereological formulae, give the 3-D quantities
of interest.
5 Another permanent record is when a computer memory holds a complete
microscopic image, built up from digitized picture elements. Such stored
images save the specimen further EM-beam or ultraviolet exposure,
and can be processed for image enhancement and reformatting, comparisons with
stored images, measurements, and the incorporation of graphics.