Histology

Histology, also called microscopic anatomy, microanatomy or histoanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. It is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures visible without a microscope. Historically, microscopic anatomy was divided into organology, the study of organs, histology, the study of tissues, and cytology, the study of cells, although modern usage places all of these topics under histology. In medicine, histopathology is the branch of histology that includes the microscopic identification and study of diseased tissue, and in paleontology the term paleohistology refers to the histology of fossil organisms.