Sharon,
		I am not familiar with this source but would humbly offer
some advice.
We also teach histology to dental students and have done so for medical
students in the past. For a majority of tissues that they need to study,
animal tissues which are well fixed are usually appropriate. In some
instances they may be better, as for example when teaching the models of
the functional lobules of the liver whcih are well defined in rat and pig
but not as well delineated in the human. The study of development including
tooth development is also is usually carried out using animal tissues for
obvious reasons.
The only problem we have encountered is a lack of appreciation of size of
individual tissues such as the esophagus and trachea in the human.
I would suggest that you start to build up a collection of well fixed human
tissue by collaborating with your local pathologist. While it is true that
many tissues will not be well fixed if obtained after tissues have been
processed, in many cases the pathologist will receive excess tissue and may
be persuaded to subject part to a more thorough fixing and processing
schedule for you.
Another source is the oral surgeon especially if they are involved in
reconstructive facial surgery.
Perhaps we could also search in our collections for any well fixed human
tissues for Sharon?
Hang in there.
Barry


At 02:17 PM 2/18/99 +0000, you wrote:
>Dear fellow histonetters,
>
>I am involved with the teaching of histology to medical students. We
>have great difficulty finding them examples of tissue which does not
>show any pathological changes or fixation artifacts. I have tried
>animal tissue and have met with a fair amount of success. I will
>continue to try and find examples of animal tissue when we need them
>. I am interested to know what other sources are available to me .
>Human normal tissues have been a real problem to obtain.  I have
>heard of the Cooperative Human Tissue Network(CHTN) via the histonet.
>Could anybody give some advice as to whether this source is worth
>persueing.  I am not sure if the cost,logistics etc. is worth it.
>Sharon Marshall
>Anatomy  & Cell Biology
>University of Cape Town
>South Africa
>e-mail: marshall@anat.uct.ac.za
>
>
>
>
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