On the welcome page of the dictionary, three major sections are shown: Normal tissues, Cancer and Cell structure. Below the image of each section are links to introductory texts for i) normal tissue histology, ii) hallmarks of cancer, and iii) cell structure overview. For the cancer-section there is also a link to current cancer statistics (incidence, survival, etc) for Sweden and the rest of the world. Within each section there are direct links to histology descriptions of different tissue types and tumor forms as well as descriptions of cell structures.
For the 'Tissue & cell types' and 'Tumor' sections, tissue-slides stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) are shown at three different levels of magnification. On the top level, an overview of the whole tissue-sample is shown with boxes in black indicating where zoomed-in representative parts of the tissue are available for viewing. Clicking on these boxes will zoom in on that part to show tissue structures, cells and features in greater detail. Throughout these sections, arrows indicate relevant tissue structures, cell-types and other features.
For the 'Cell structure' section, immunofluorescent images of formaldehyde-fixed cell lines are shown. The various cell structures that are demonstrated are always shown in the green channel using an antibody found in the Human Protein Atlas. The antibody name is linked to the subcellular location summary page of the target gene. The other channels: nucleus, microtubules and endoplasmic reticulum, are always shown in the blue, red and yellow channels, respectively. The channels can be toggled on and off by clicking on the respective coloured button above the image. When applicable, the immunofluorescent images are complemented by immunohistochemically stained cells where the location of the particular cell structure is shown in brown.
A common feature for all sections is that a general descriptive text about the tissue, tumor-type or cell structure is provided when browsing a particular topic.
Staining of plasma membrane in human cell line MOLT-4 (HPA000440)
Scale bar represents 10?m
Plasma membrane
The plasma membrane encloses the cell content and enables a selective transport of molecules in and out of the cell, either through passive diffusion or through active uptake. It also takes part in signal conduction through receptors embedded in the membrane, which consists of a lipid bilayer.
Immunofluorescent staining
Immunofluorescent staining of the plasma membrane can appear differently. Sometimes the staining only appear as a rim around the cell, sometimes membrane protrusions extending from the plasma membrane are clearly visible and sometimes it may appear as a uniform and very flat staining across the entire cell (since the plasma membrane beneath the cell is stained). It can be difficult to distinguish plasma membrane staining from cytoplasmic staining when the images show the plasma membrane underneath the cell.
