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.
The vagina is a tubular canal that extends from the vestibule (entrance) of the vulva to the uterine cervix. The vagina is posterior to the urinary bladder and anterior to the rectum with an angle of more than 90 degrees between the axis of the vagina and that of the uterus. In the adult, the vagina measures about 9 cm in length. In the upper part of the vagina, there are small recesses between the vaginal walls and the vaginal portion of the cervix (portio vaginalis) termed fornices.
The vaginal wall consists of three layers: mucosa, muscularis and adventitia. The mucosa is thrown into folds the thickness of which varies according to location and hormonal stimulation. The mucosal lining is a stratifiedsquamousepithelium that is normally glycogenated and nonkeratinizing. The basalcell layer consists of a single layer of columnar cells. The nuclei are uniform and hyperchromatic and surrounded by a scant cytoplasm. The parabasal layer consists of two to five layers of cuboidal squamous cells with central, hyperchromatic nuclei. The intermediate and superficial layers are of variable thickness and cells contain moderate to large amounts of cytoplasm. The nuclei of cells in the intermediate layer have a dispersed chromatin whilst those from the superficial layer have pyknotic nuclei. Variable amounts of glycogen may be present in the intermediate and superficial cell layers. The glycogen first appears in the perinuclear region. The laminapropria lies beneath squamous epithelium. It consists of a loose fibrovascular stroma, containing elastic fibers, nerves and blood vessels. Large, stellate or spindle shaped stromal cells with occasional cells exhibiting multinucleation and/or multilobation may be seen.
The muscularis consists of poorly delineated, inner circular and outer longitudinal bundles of smoothmuscle. The adventitia comprises a thin coat of dense connective tissue and contains the lymphatic and venous plexuses and nerve bundles.
