VSC/MIC 423/523

To register, a "drop/add" (registration/change of schedule form) must be completed through Dr. Michael Riggs (VSC/MIC Bldg. Rm. 302) after reviewing 1) this brief course description, and 2) recommended background courses (below). If you have any questions after reviewing these materials please see Dr. Riggs and/or contact him to complete your drop/add form. Please note: you cannot enroll without Dr. Riggs' signature.

Spring 2008 offering: 9:30-10:45 TTh (lecture), 11:00-1:45 Th (lab), VSC/MIC 129

Introduction to Veterinary Pathology, 3^rd Ed., 2006, by Norman F. Cheville. This is the suggested "core" reference text on general pathology for any lecture theory subject matter in need of clarification, or for which you desire additional information or detail. It is the most current concise reference text available for a survey course in general pathology taught at this level. However, I am suggesting it rather than recommending or requiring it for several reasons: 1) it is a bit expensive (~$80.00), 2) it has a distracting number of errors and typos, 3) the index and cross-referencing of topics needs some work to be more useful. Everything you will need to know to master this course will be covered in lectures, labs, the course website and handouts, and, for graduate students, outside readings from the current literature. Nevertheless, if you feel “incomplete” without a core textbook, this is the one I would suggest for this course. If you seek a more comprehensive text there are two tomes available: one focused on human general pathology and one focused on veterinary general pathology. Both were written primarily for pathology resident audiences. Please see or contact me for more information if interested in either text, I have copies of each you can peruse.

Recommended supportive histology atlas for lab; required if you have not taken a course in histology:

Color Atlas of Veterinary Histology. 2000. 2^nd Ed., Williams and Wilkins Publishers, by W.J. Bacha and L.M. Wood. This is an excellent supportive reference, principally for the laboratory portion of the course. It contains an excellent collection of color photomicrographs demonstrating the histology of normal tissues. The basics of normal histology age very slowly and this remains an excellent color atlas and good investment despite the 2000 publication date. If you prefer a human atlas of histology please see me for recommendations.

This course focuses on the fundamental mechanisms and lesions which are common to all mammalian species and which are manifested as various forms of disease. As such, it is a course in General Pathology which emphasizes how different types of disease develop. The course material is presented using a comparative approach that emphasizes the commonalties between disease processes in animal and human species rather than the exceptions. Successful integration of the concepts presented in this course provides the necessary foundation on which future competency in clinical, diagnostic, or experimental medicine (veterinary or human) can be built. Further, this course provides the general mechanistic knowledge required for future study and understanding of how specific disease entities develop in Systemic Pathology courses. Emphasis is placed on pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and morphologic changes at the macroscopic, microscopic, and molecular levels. In lecture, general mechanisms for major types of disease processes are stressed. The laboratory serves to illustrate and clarify material presented in lecture and stresses practical, hands-on recognition of disease in organs and tissues at the gross and microscopic levels. Lesioned gross tissue specimens for evaluation in the laboratory will include those obtained from a variety of actual case accessions received at the Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, a division of the Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology. Diseased specimens from cases which best represent the principles of disease under study for each section of the course will be used. Course content is particularly well-tailored to pre-veterinary and pre-medical students, and provides more than ample preparation for general pathology taught in the veterinary and medical school professional curricula. However, other undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate students in the animal/human health science-related majors should find the course information useful in their professional development.

Undergraduate Honors level requirements will include a clear understanding of principles of disease at a depth appropriate for honors designation, and preparation of a critical review paper on a selected relevant topic.

Graduate level requirements will include preparation of a research proposal on a selected relevant topic (e.g. the molecular pathogenesis of a selected disease and currently applicable biotechniques for its study), and critical analysis of course-related publications from the current literature for completion of written assignments.

The course is divided into 5 major sections, each examining disease processes at the cellular, tissue, and body-as-a-whole levels:

In addition, there are 2 guest lectures on veterinary diagnostic pathology and human forensic pathology.

2. Understand, integrate, and be able to apply in a problem-solving fashion, the principle disease mechanisms presented in the course at the whole body, cellular, and molecular levels.

3. Begin to recognize and accurately describe lesions grossly, and to a lesser extent microscopically, and distinguish them from normal tissue findings. Be able to interpret and explain their pathogenesis by understanding the basic mechanisms through which essentially all disease develops. Appreciate the commonalties in pathology, regardless of species (animal, human).

4. Begin to relate lesions to major clinical signs and clinical reference laboratory data, in a general sense.

5. Given a lesion and corresponding patient history, begin learning how to formulate a morphologic diagnosis and differential diagnosis, and suggest a possible pathogenesis and etiology.

Completion of six units of upper division VSC and/or MIC credits for 423, and six units of graduate level credits in VSC, MIC, or PCOL for 523, or instructor approval, is required for enrollment. The single most appropriate and important foundation courses for the study of principles of disease in this course are 1) normal anatomy and physiology (e.g. VSC 400A and/or 400B: Animal Anatomy and Physiology, or a suitable alternate for more human-oriented students, e.g. PSIO 201 and/or 202: Human Anatomy and Physiology, or equivalents), and 2) normal histology, i.e. microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues (e.g. VSC 422L/422R: Applied Histology, or equivalent). Therefore, it is strongly recommended that prerequisites include VSC 400A and/or 400B or concurrent registration, or equivalents and VSC 422R/422L (Histology) or equivalent. The course introduction for Mechanisms of Disease in spring 2008 will include only a very brief one-lab review of normal histology. Thereafter we will examine only diseased tissues.

A basic understanding of normal structure and function will greatly facilitate successful integration of the information on disease to be presented in this course. For students lacking the above suggested background courses, some additional outside study during the first part of the semester will be necessary to get the most from this course. More specifically, students lacking general knowledge of normal gross anatomy should obtain a set of basic anatomic drawings demonstrating the general topographic anatomy of major organs from the course instructor. Students lacking general knowledge of normal physiology should use a current physiology text (veterinary or human) to become familiar with selected organ systems which will be used to illustrate diseases during the course. The student need not review every physiologic detail, just the general concepts on how selected organs normally function. Similarly, the student need not review the normal physiology of every single tissue type and organ (i.e. the whole book). Rather, the focus should be on the same selected tissues/organs which will be used to illustrate diseases during the course (see italicized underlined list of these selected tissues below). Students lacking general knowledge of histology should review and be familiar with the normal microscopic anatomy of selected tissues prior to each laboratory session. The objective is not to know every histologic detail, just the general microscopic features, starting with those that allow you to simply identify what tissue it is you are looking at under the microscope! The major tissue types that will be examined microscopically in the lab portion of the course will be briefly reviewed during the course introduction lab. Thereafter, the tissue types that will be examined microscopically each week will be announced in advance to allow time for re-review of normal prior to lab. The student need not review the microscopic appearance and details of every single tissue type (i.e. the whole book). Rather, the focus should be on the following selected tissues:lung, liver, heart, kidney, skeletal muscle, small intestine, lymph node, skin, thyroid gland, pancreas, and spleen. These are the major tissue types that will be examined in ~90% of the labs, only they will have lesions (i.e. be abnormal). These same tissue types will be used over and over in each lab, but the types of lesions they contain will differ with each section of the course.