Basic Histology

Junqueira and Carneiro's Basic Histology has become the standard textbook on the subject, and is widely used in undergraduate classes in the US as well as in medical and veterinary schools. When first introduced a number of years ago, it entered a crowded field with serious competitors such as Bloom and Fawcett's monumental text, and Ross and Reith's text / atlas. However Junqueira and Carneiro's text overcame its competitors due to its accurate, concise content and excellent illustrations. Over the years, successive editions of Basic Histology have kept pace with advances in our understanding and have incorporated excellent photomicrographs and disgrams to aid student comprehension.

On its publication in 2005, the 11th edition was the show more best histology textbook on the market, given the work's accuracy, clarity, conciseness, and illustrations. Although the focus is necessarily human, mammalian anatomy is similar enough at the histological level that this text might be suitable for a veterinary histology course, when supplemented with additional information.

Contents of the text are as follows. Introductory chapters consider microscopy, histological methods, and cytology. Next come successive chapters on the major tissues (epithelium, connective, adipose, cartilage, bone, nerve, and muscle). The remainder of the text considers each of the organ systems in turn. Blood is considered following the chapter on circulatory system (rather than with connective tissues), an approach that allows consideration of clotting as well as a seque into hematopoiesis and the lymph system. Photoreceptors and audioreceptors get their own chapter. One unusual feature is that mammary glands are considered in the chapter on the female reproductive system (not with exocrine glands).

Each chapter is replete with color light micrographs, electron micrographs (TEM and SEM), and excellent and informative diagrams. Although the work is largely descriptive, it takes note of functional issues as appropriate. Further, numerous textboxes summarize medical applications. However, developmental aspects are not considered, an unfortunate omission as compared to Bloom and Fawcett's classic text, no longer in print. Each chapter contains a short list of references to the primary and secondary literature for students seeking to do further reading.

Very few flaws are evident in this excellent textbook. One is that some of the photomicrograps are somewhat pixelated, particularly on the enclosed CD. Comparing this edition to previous ones, it is clear that a substantial effort has been made to improve resolution and coloration of the illustrations; however, there is still some work to be done in this regard. Oddly, the mammalian placenta is never considered, and mammary glands get only brief attention (less than a page of actual text). Meanwhile, while the CD is useful to teachers seeking images for powerpoint slides, it is of little or no value to students, since it simply contains the same illustrations in the text.

In sum, this is an excellent reference work and textbook, as evident from its domination of the textbook market. A 12th edition is being published as of this writing (November 2009). show less