Department of Zoology
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
ZOOL 409, Lab Week 12
Lab notes offer a preview of upcoming labs and links to more information about tissues examined during lab.
- Week 12 lecture notes
- SYLLABUS (including links to all note pages)
- 409 Homepage (index of course resources)
- Dr. King's School of Medicine histology page
- Slide summary
TUESDAY
Primary objective:Examine the female reproductive tract.
- Slide 53, 54 -- ovary. Distinguish cortex from medulla (vague boundary). Find primordeal follicles in the cortex. Try to find maturing follicles and distinguish different stages of maturation. Locate oocytes, granulosa cells, thecal cells.
- Slide 87 -- oviduct. Note mucosal folds, ciliated columnar epithelium.
- Slide 55 -- uterus. Distinguish myometrium and endometrium. Observe uterine glands and uterine stroma. Try to determine stage of uterine development (i.e., growing or "proliferative", with smooth tubular glands and numerous mitotic figures, vs. mature or "secretory", with very irregular epithelial lining for the glands). See whether you can find blood vessels in the endometrial stroma, particularly spiral arteries.
- Slide 56 -- vagina. Note stratified squamous epithelium; notice the characteristically "empty" appearance of the epithelial cells (reflecting the presence of stored glycogen which does not stain with H&E). Note the interweaving of smooth muscle and connective tissue, with numerous nerves and blood vessels, in tissues beneath the mucosa.
- Slide 72, 73 -- mammary gland. Slide 72 shows developing gland with conspicuous ducts and with overlying skin of nipple. Slide 73 shows active gland with accumulated secretory product (i.e., milk).
THURSDAY
Primary objective:Examine endocrine glands.
- Slide 65, 84 -- pancreatic islets. Pancreatic islets of Langerhans are distinct patches of endocrine cells, usually less intensely stained and with a cell arrangement (irregular, curving cords) that is distinctly different from the exocrine acini.
- Slide 66, 88 -- thyroid and parathyroid. Thyroid gland is characterized by distinct follicles, lined by simple cuboidal epithelium and filled with colloid (containing stored thyroglobulin). The parathyroid consists of small masses of cells, arranged in cords rather like pancreatic islets.
- Slide 60, 90 -- adrenal gland. Note distinct difference between cortex (epithelial cells arranged in cords separated by sinusoids) and medulla (very different cell arrangement, derived from neural tissue). In the cortex, you may be able to see three zones (zona glomerulosa nearest the capsule, zona fasciculata, and zona reticularis nearest the medulla), vaguely distinguished by subtle variation in staining and in cell arrangement. Cells of the zona fasciculata should have the distinctive spongy appearance characteristic of steroid manufacture and secretion, resulting from presence of numerous lipid droplets.
- Slide 57 -- pituitary gland. Distinguish the anterior pituitary (=adenohypophysis, pars distalis) from posterior pituitary (=neurohypophysis, pars nervosa). Cells of the anterior pituitary are epithelial in origin, form irregular clumps, and include several different cell types (each associated with a specific pituitary hormone. We can't identify specific hormonal types with routine light microscopy, but we can notice cells with diverse staining properties (acidophils, basophils, chromophobes).
- Slide 53, 54 -- ovary. The endocrine cells are the granulosa cells and thecal cells associated with ovarian follicles. Cells of the theca interna (around mature follicles) and corpus luteum have the characteristic appearance of steroid-secreting cells.
- Slide 52, 100 -- testis. The endocrine cells are the Leydig cells in testicular stroma, with round euchromatic nuclei and with the numerous lipid droplets (giving a foamy appearance) that characterize steroid-secreting cells.
Complete slide list:
01, 02, 03,
04, 05, 06,
07, 08, 09,
10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21,
22, 23, 24,
25, 26, 27,
28, 29, 30,
31, 32, 33,
34, 35, 36,
37, 38, 39,
40, 41, 42,
43, 44, 45,
46, 47, 48,
49, 50, 51,
52, 53, 54,
55, 56, 57,
58, 59, 60,
61, 62, 63,
64, 65, 66,
67, 68, 69,
70, 71, 72,
73, 74, 75,
76, 77, 78,
79, 80, 81,
82, 83, 84,
85, 86, 87,
88, 89, 90,
91, 92, 93,
94, 95, 96,
97, 98, 99,
100
Comments and questions: dgking@siu.edu
Department of Zoology e-mail: zoology@zoology.siu.edu
Comments and questions related to web server: webmaster@science.siu.edu