Prof. King's home pageDepartment of Zoology
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
- Week 1 lab notes
- SYLLABUS (including links to all note pages)
- 409 Homepage (index of course resources)
- Dr. King's School of Medicine histology page
- Slide summary
Topics for Week 1 Lecture [also see text reading and class attendance]:
- Course policies and expectations. See syllabus.
- What is histology? [Also see, Why study histology?]
- Histology focuses on one level of organization, that of tissues (histo = tissue).
- Meaningful understanding of any particular level of biological organization is enhanced by knowledge of lower and higher levels.
- For histology, helpful background includes cell biology, molecular biology, gross anatomy, and systemic physiology. This course will provide minimal introductions to these subjects, but shall not be a thorough course in any of them.
- About cells. See checklist of cell structures / functions.
- All animal cells are fundamentally similar. [Prokaryotic and Protistan cells are more various, but still similar.]
- Cell differentiation emerges from varying emphasis on particular cell functions.
All living things are composed of cells and cell products. This is one of the greatest unifying principles of biology. However, recognizing this unity among the diversity of animal tissues represents a major accomplishment in the history of scientific observation.
- Cells (rather, cell walls in cork) were first observed and named "cells" by Robert Hooke in 1665.
- Cells were recognized as universal elements of plants and animals by Schleiden and Schwann in the 1830s.
- Brief description of methods of tissue preparation. See tissue preparation.
- Overview of basic tissue types. See basic tissues.
More: see Ed (The Path Guy)'s Basic Histology Gallery.
Comments and questions: dgking@siu.edu
Department of Zoology e-mail: zoology@zoology.siu.edu
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