Lecture 1 - Intro to Pathology

Veterinary Pathology?

Study of animal dz in a variety of species, provides the scientific foundation for the practice of medicine by studying the etiology and pathogenesis of dz at all levels, crucial for determining the cause of animal dz and risk to human health

Etiology?

cause of dz

Pathogenesis?

how and why a particular dz develops

Cytology - Characteristics?

• Quick, Easy, low cost

• minimal invasiveness/discomfort for patient

• individual cells

• can be less diagnostic (hyperplasia vs neoplasia)

• may need to follow up with biopsy

• great cellular detail

Biopsy - Characteristics?

• Time consuming

• More invasive

• Formalin fixation/time

• anatomic pathologist to read and interpret

• less cellular detail

• better tissue detail

What are the 2 stains used for microscopic assessment of tissues?

Hematoxylin and Eosin

Hematoxylin stain characteristics?

• blue

• nucleic acids, DNA, ribosomes, mitochondria

• the more blue a cell is the more is has the compounds listed above

Eosin stain characteristics?

• Red/Pink

• intracellular and extracellular proteins

• the more pink a cell is the more protein it has