The Collection of the Anatomical Pathology Section (APSC), currently composed of 854 anatomical pieces, is a result of the efforts endeavored by great national science figures. The collection provides information about the beginning of Pathology history (1903) and its development until 1970, in Rio de Janeiro, and the contributions of this field to national and international science. Despite the fact some materials have been lost during the sixties and the seventies, the remaining anatomical pieces are a historical document of the efforts of famous pathologists from Escola de Manguinhos (Manguinhos School).

History of APSC

The history of the Pathology Museum / IOC is confused with the beginning of histopathology in Brazil. Pathological histology only started developing in the beginning of the 20th Century (around 1903) in two different locations: one of these locations was Hospital Nacional de Alienados (National Hospital for Alienated People), in Praia Vermelha, where anatomical pathology research did not last long; the other location was Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (started by Henrique da Rocha Lima) where, the first Escola Brasileira de Anatomia e Histologia Patológicas (Brazilian School of Anatomical Pathology and Pathological Histology) was actually created.

The year of 1903 is considered the beginning of Manguinhos Pathology Museum. On 23 March 1903, Oswaldo Cruz takes office for the first time as General-Director of the Public Health General Directorate, having eradication of yellow fever as one of his priority objectives. In order to do so, Oswaldo Cruz requested researchers of Instituto Soroterápico de Manguinhos (Manguinhos Institute of Serum Therapy) to conduct an anatomical pathology study on yellow fever and diagnosis in post-mortem exams. After examination, major organs presenting changes were preserved by Kaiserling method and sent to the Museum of Manguinhos Institute of Serum Therapy. At the time, all examined materials came from a number of autopsies occurred at Hospital de Isolamento São Sebastião (São Sebastião Isolation Hospital).

Decree No. 17.512, dated 5 November 1926, presented new rules after Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Oswaldo Cruz Institute) increased its objectives and attributions, specifying, in scientific sections, organisation, preservation and control norms for Scientific Collections and museum organisation. The Anatomical Pathology Section, one of the first Manguinhos sections, in addition to being responsible for the maintenance of the Pathology Museum, also performed necropsies in many different hospitals of the city, diagnosis activities in surgical pieces, and study of normal and embryological histology. Article 16 of the referred to Regulation also said: "the services of pathology and surgery will be destined to the diagnosis of surgical pieces sent to the Institute and will serve as a development tool for the Museum." Article 17 addressed procedures for maintenance and preservation of the Anatomical Pathology Museum. It mentioned that work and autopsy research results would be regularly and carefully recorded in the Museum, with the creation of a catalogue with all anatomical pieces studied. Article 18 especially addressed the need to organise a Collection of normal and pathological histology preparations, and compared embryology and human embryology preparations.

The first fifteen years of history were quite difficult and troubled. Although Escola de Manguinhos has made innumerous contributions in terms of anatomical and pathological knowledge of the diseases studied in Brazil, contributions related to yellow fever and Chagas Disease are the centerpiece.

Hospital Nacional de Alienados (National Hospital for Alienated People) and Hospital de Manguinhos (Manguinhos Hospital) 1919.

In its heyday, the Pathology Division had members who were experts in different aspects of special anatomical pathology. This Division gave origin to a wide collection of anatomical pieces, obtained from necropsies made in up to six individuals per day that had been admitted to the Institute Hospital (currently, Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas – IPEC (Evandro Chagas Institute for Clinical Research)), Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Health Facility), and Hospital São Francisco de Assis (São Francisco de Assis Hospital).

At certain time, this collection was stored in 40 large display cabinets, located where Carlos Chagas Pavilion is located nowadays, Manguinhos campus. Unfortunately, in the period from the end of the sixties to the seventies, the Division, as well as the entire Institute, was faced with a serious crisis that resulted in significant losses. In 1981, IOC was reorganised into Departments and the Pathology Division was transformed in IOC Pathology Department that still stores a collection of macroscopic pieces and their respective histological slides, which provides information about the history and contributions of Pathology in Manguinhos to national and international science.

Previous Contribution

Among the innumerous contributions of the Section/Division of Anatomical Pathology to national science, we can mention:

• - Rocha-Lima's and Magarinos Torres' fundamental studies on yellow fever anatomical pathology. Rocha-Lima's lesion always seen in advanced cases of the disease, and oxychromatic degeneration of hepatic cell nucleus; Magarinos Torres' lesion, with nuclear inclusions which were characteristic in the first stage of infection, how these represented the mark of the disease and the traces it left in the body;

• - Histological lesions of Chagas Disease were firstly and greatly described by Gaspar Vianna, and illustrated by Castro-Silva after long studies had been conducted by Magarinos Torres and Henrique da Rocha-Lima. Torres has classical papers on heart disease caused by Chagas Disease that on the clinical point of view was very well studied by Carlos Chagas himself and Eurico Villela, later by Evandro Chagas, and after that by Genard Nobrega, Francisco da Silva Laranja and other doctors from Manguinhos;

• - Gaspar Vianna generally explained for the first time the clinical and anatomical-pathological condition of Lutz's mycosis, clarifying its pathogenesis and showing that, after initially located on the skin and mucosa, the infection spread through the lymphatic route before spreading to the whole body, in a final hematogenic phase. Part of this study was published in cooperation with Miguel Pereira, and was used for his thesis for the purposes of obtaining a full professor qualification, and presented to Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Medicine School). Splendore's studies were then completed, which gave a hint on the existence of multiple infection sites due to the existence of clinical signs indicating infection in the lung, and presence of parasitic forms in patients' spittle and urine;

• - Penna-de-Azevedo reviewed existing material from the thyroid gland of individuals with clinically and parsithologically proven diagnosis of Chagas Disease. An important fact is that part of Penna-de-Azevedo works concerning thyroid lesions in acute cases of Chagas Disease was published when Chagas was still alive;

• - Magarinos Torres' and José Castro-Teixeira's works on smallpox and alastrim histopathology brought new and important subsidies for distinguishing these two diseases by clinical manifestations and lesions produced in the chorioallantoic membrane of chicken embryos, which was also demonstrated by Antonio Sotero Cabral in Manguinhos;

• - Studies on chromoblastomycosis histopathology undertaken by Manguinhos Torres and benign blastomycosis (wolf disease or mycosis) undertaken by Penna-de-Azevedo;

• - Among Manguinhos works on neuropathology, we must highlight those undertaken by Alexandre Alencar on subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. In first place, because these works were the first works/studies conducted in Brazil about what was then considered to be "atypical encephalitis" (forms of Dawson, Van Bogaert and Pette-Doring). Alencar described nuclear and nucleolar changes found, and the "nucleoline extrusion" phenomenon was first seen in these diseases. Alencar's works have also proved this phenomenon does not occur only in sclerosing subacute panencephalitis, but also in acute previous poliomyelitis and rabies, a general phenomenon seen in neurovirosis.

Mission and Vision

Mission:

Protect the material inheritance of the "Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Anatomical Pathology Section Collection", composed of samples collected for studies and diagnoses during the works conducted by the Division/Section in the thirties and seventies, from all over Brazil; scientifically promote this Collection; and search for development opportunities and collaborative activities focused on scientific research within the biological collection.

Vision:

Restructure, organise and modernise the materials of the Anatomical Pathology Section Collection by recovering anatomical pieces, making an informatised inventory, creating a databank for information management, transforming the collection in an informal learning and teaching tool for scientific knowledge sharing among visitors, developing multidisciplinary research within the collection, and by establishing national and international partnerships.

Team

The work team is a multidisciplinary team, with expertise in pathology, tissue processing, molecular biology, handling and informatisation of biological collections, virology, Brazilian history, analysis of historical documents, image processing, and scientific video production.

Recovery and Reorganisation

Anatomical pieces are preserved by cleaning the glass vials where they are stored and by changing the binder used for preservation.

APSC Informatisation

The anatomical piece collection inventory has already been made, a museum collection currently composed of 854 anatomical pieces resulted from the efforts endeavored by great national science figures. The databank is being implemented and aligned with information generated during the inventory process.