Histology is the science of tissues (GK. Histos, web or tissue, logia: branch of learning). It is concerned with the microscopic structure of cells (cytology) and tissues in relation to their functions.

History of Histology

     In the 19th century, histology was an academic discipline in its own right. The 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to histologists Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal. They had dueling interpretations of the neural structure of the brain based in differing interpretations of the same images. Cajal won the prize for his correct theory and Golgi for the staining technique he invented to make it possible.

In 1665, Robert Hooke (1635-1703), an English microscopist and physic, when examining a piece of cork with a rudimentary microscope, saw an abundance of empty small compartments — the “cell” was discovered!  Hooke derived the designation from the Latin, cellula ; i.e., small compartment, having in mind a comparison with a honeycomb. Almost two hundred years were passed before a definition of cell was achieved; according to Max Schultze (1861): Cell is a small mass of nucleated protoplasm. Nowadays, we may say that Cell is the smaller quantity of protoplasm that possesses a certain functional autonomy.

Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), an Italian anatomist, is in fact considered the true “Father of Histology. Malpighi described a series of microscopic structures never seen until then; for instance, was the first scientist to observe the capillaries.

The first description of the nucleus was carried out by Leeuwenhoek, in 1700, when examining the red blood cells of the salmon. The first description of the nuclear envelope was accomplished by Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787-1869), a Czech biologist, in 1830; nevertheless, who verified the constancy of the organelle and who introduced the term nucleus in microscopy was Robert Brown (1773-1858), a Scottish botanist, after the examination, in 1831, of epidermal cell of some orchids and some  Asclepiadacea. Purkinje also introduced in Science the term protoplasma (1840).

Marie François Bichat, a French pathologist (1771-1802)  is considered, by some authors, to be the founder of Animal Histology as he introduced in Science the definition of tissue.  

In 1819,  A. Mayer created the term Histology. He made use of two classical Greek root words (histos = tissue and logos = study). The term histos meant originally any woven material. In 1844, it was recommended for large usage by Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), a great English paleontologist

History of department

     The Department of Histology is one of the basic departments established by Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Abo Al-Naga-the great histologist. Besides being the founder of the Mansoura School of Medicine in 1962 that gradually expanded to become the Mansoura faculty of medicine, he founded a unit for histology and cytology incorporated in the anatomy department. By the expansion of the Mansoura Faculty of Medicine and the realization of the importance of histology and cytology as a basic science, the unit of histology and cytology became an individual department. Our department was lucky to have great sincere professors as heads of the department beginning with Prof.Dr. Nazik Mahmoud Sayed who was the first head of histology and cytology, followed by Prof.Dr. El Hosini Ibraheem Al Dosoky, Prof.Dr. Essam Abdel Megeed Al Mohandes , Prof.Dr. Amany Sameh El Lakkany, Prof. Dr. Azza Radwan El-hadidy, Prof. Dr. Awny Hasan Ibrahim Yassin, Prof. Dr. Salwa Aly Abou Elez Gawish, Prof. Dr. Nawal Awad Hasanin Ibrahim and Prof. Dr.  Amal Mohamed Moustafa Youssef the present head of the department

Department head

Prof. Dr. Shehab Hafez Mohamed

Department heads

Prof.Dr. Nazik Mahmoud Sayed

Prof.Dr. El Hosini Ibraheem Al Dosoky

Prof.Dr. Essam Abdel Megeed Al Mohandes

Prof.Dr. Amany Sameh El Lakkany

Prof. Dr. Azza Radwan El-hadidy

Prof. Dr. Awny Hasan Ibrahim Yassin

Prof. Dr. Salwa Aly Abou Elez Gawish

Prof. Dr. Nawal Awad Hasanin Ibrahim

Prof. Dr. Amal Mohamed Moustafa Youssef

Prof. Dr. Shehab Hafez Mohamed (the present head of the department

Prof. Dr. Nawal Awad Hasanin Ibrahim

Prof. Dr. Amal Mohamed Moustafa Youssef (the present head of the department)