Atherosclerosis

Foam Cells

Reduced width of lumen

Cholesterol cleft

Fibrosis
Artery wall

(Atherosclerosis, x4 mag)
Arteriosclerotic is a vascular disease is a condition where an artery wall thickens as a result of the
accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol. It is a syndrome affecting arterial blood
vessels, a chronic inflammatory response in the walls of arteries, caused largely by the
accumulation of macrophage white blood cells and promoted by low-density lipoproteins. The
pathogenesis of atheroma is believed to be damage to the endothelium which allows entry of low
density lipoprotein into the tunica intima. After a large amounts of accumulation, a foam cell can
be seen. These cells secrete collagen when the plaque starts to become necrotic and attracts more

macrophages. As the lesion develops, the increased secretion of collagen forms a dense fibrous
cap to the plaque which hardens it.
Microscopically, we can see in this slide there is an atherosclerotic plague which has grown on the
left side of the artery which reduces the width of the lumen. We can also observe some formatio n
of foam cells inside the plague with cholesterol cleft. There is also formation of fibrosis besides
the original artery wall.
Myocardial Infarction.

Normal myocardial cells

Granulation Tissue

Polymorphonuclear
neutrophils

(Acute myocardial infarction, 4mag)

Acute myocardial infarction indicates irreversible myocardial injury resulting in necrosis of a
significant portion of myocardium. The term "acute" indicates that the infarction is usually less
than 24 hours old, when the inflammatory infiltrate is primarily neutrophilic. Acute MI may be

either of the nonreperfusion type, in which case the obstruction to blood flow is permanent, or of
the reperfusion type, in which the obstruction or lack of blood flow is long enough in duration but
is reversed or restored after myocardial cell death occurs.
Microscopically, we can observe some infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils and the lower
right side we can observe a formation of extensive granulation tissue and no indication of any
collagen and fibrous tissue formation indicating that this is an early acute healed myocardia l
infarction.

Necrotic Tissue

Fibrous Tissue

Granulation Tissue

Normal myocardial cells

(Myocardial infarction, x4mag)

Compared to acute myocardial infarction, a chronic myocardial infarction usually after 3 to 4 days
old has a repeated cycles of granulation tissue formation during the healing process which results
in collagen and fibrous tissue formation over the healed areas of infarction.
Microscopically, we can observe there is a loss of myocardial fibers in the granulation tissue and
replacement of fibrous tissue. There is also infiltration of PMN leukocytes and some necrosis of
myocardial cells where there are no observable nuclei.

Cirrhosis of liver

Fibrous Band

Lipid vacuole

Regenerative Nodule
(Alcoholic liver disease, x4mag)
Alcoholic liver cirrhosis is a type of liver damage where healthy cells are replaced by scar tissue.
Excessive and chronic alcohol consumption is the most common cause of liver cirrhosis. In
micronodular cirrhosis, the regenerating nodules are small under 3mm. Micronodular cirrhosis is
seen along with moderate fatty liver change. This is because the regenerative nodule is surrounded

by fibrous connective tissue extending between portal regions. The numerous tiny fat vesicles
require fat staining to be properly seen.
Microscopically, we can observe that the regenerative nodule is filled with numerous small lipid
vacuole and the nodule is surrounded by fibrous band. The regenerative nodule is also small in
size, less than 3mm which classified as micronodular cirrhosis.

Fibrous Band

Regenerative Nodule

Inflammatory cells

(Chronic hepatitis, x4mag)

Chronic hepatitis is inflammation of the liver that lasts at least 6 months. Chronic hepatitis is
usually caused by one of the hepatitis viruses. Hepatitis C virus causes the most cases usually
becomes chronic. About as little as 5% of the hepatitis B cases, with hepatitis D co-infectio n,
become chronic. Hepatitis A and E viruses do not cause chronic hepatitis.
Microscopically, we can observe that there are many inflammatory cells along the portal tract and
some infiltration of inflammatory cells into the parenchyma of hepatocyte nodule. We can also
observe some clear fibrous bands with many inflammatory cells surrounding the nodule. The

regenerative nodule we observe in the slide is large and can classified as macronodular cirrhosis if
more than 3mm is size.

Metastatic carcinoma of liver

Small cell carcinoma

(Liver metastatic small cell carcinoma, x4mag)

Small-cell carcinoma is a type of highly malignant cancer that commonly arises within the lungs
although it can develop in other sites such as prostate or gastrointestinal tract. When associated
with the lung, it is sometimes called "oat cell carcinoma" due to the flat cell shape and little
cytoplasm. It usually occurs in men over 60 years of age with high prominence in heavy smokers.
Small-cell carcinoma is most often more metastatic compared to the non-small cell lung carcinoma
type and has a low prognosis rate if left untreated.
Microscopically, we can observe that there is presence of small cell carcinoma especially on the
bottom the slide, the cancer cell shown are atypical and does not resembles any normal liver cells

above the slide but more towards the shape of lung cancer cells. We can also observe the nuclei is
highly chromatic and deeply stained. There is also a high nucleus to cytoplasm ratio on these cells
where there is little observable cytoplasm on these cells.

Hyperchromatic nuclei
Neoplastic cells

Neoplastic cells

(Gastric adenocarcinoma, x4mag)

Adenocarcinoma is a type of cancerous tumor originating in glandular tissue which the epithelia l
tissue is widely occurring in the body. It can occur in several parts of the body like cervix, pancreas,
prostate, stomach and breast. It is defined as neoplasia of epithelial tissue that has glandular origin
and possess secretion properties.
Microscopically, we can observe a high nucleus to cytoplasm ratio on the neoplasm cells which
shown by the larger size of nucleus and little cytoplasm content. On the upper right corner, we can
observe well defined hyperchromatic nuclei which stains slightly darker in color.

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