Journal de cytologie et d'histologie

From Microscopes to Virtual Reality – How Our Teaching of Histology is Changing

Abstract

Michael Hortsch

For a long time, histology has been a well-established, fundamental part of many biomedical curricula. As it provides a bridge from the macroscopic field of gross anatomy to the molecular sciences such as biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology, histology constitutes a central link between the visible and the submicroscopic dimension. In addition, by contrasting normal tissue structures and functions with changes seen under disease conditions it serves as a gateway to pathology. Histology as a scientific field and as an educational subject has always relied on technology, initially the introductions of reliable, high-quality light microscopes about 150 years ago. This enabled students and researchers to analyze tissues and cell structures at an increasingly smaller scale.