Introduction and Principles of

Pathology including genetic

basis of disease
The word ‘Pathology’ is derived from 2 greek words ‘Pathos’ means suffering
or disease and ‘logos’ meaning study.

Pathology is the scientific study of anatomical, chemical, physiological alteration

from normal as a result of disease.

Health and Disease:

Health refers to a state of complete physical, mental and social well- being.
Disease is (loss of ease/ comfort ) a condition in which an individual shows an
anatomical, chemical and physiological deviation from normal.

* Illness is the reaction of the individual to disease in the form of symptoms and
physical signs while disease suggests an entity with a cause.
Father of Pathology / Father of Cellular Pathology : Rudolph Virchow

Father of Indian Pathology : Vasant Ramji Khanolkar

Father of Clinical Pathology : Paul Ehrlich

Father of Exfoliative Patholgy : George N. Papanicolaou

Father of Museum in Pathology : John Hunter

Father of Immunology : Edward Jenner

 Terminology in Pathology
• Etiology: It is the study of causation of disease.
• Pathogenesis: It is a progressive development of disease process.
• Lesion: It refers to pathological alteration in structure or function that can be
detectable.
• Signs: Functional implications of the lesion/ objective finding that can be
observed.
• Symptoms: Functional implications of the lesion experienced by patient.
• Syndrome: combination of symptoms that occur together caused by altered
physiologic processes.
• Diagnosis: Act of identifying a disease from its signs and symptoms and also
through various laboratory tests.
• Prognosis: it refers to outcome of disease.
• Sequelae: It is the final end result of disease.
• Pathogenicity: It is the capability of an organism fro producing a disease.
• Virulence: It is the degree of invasiveness of pathogenic organism.
• Infection: It is the invasion of tissues of the body by pathogenic organism
resulting in the development of disease process.
• Infestation: It is the superficial attack of any organism on the surface of body.
• Biopsy: It is the examination of tissues received from living animals.
Pathology is divided into General Pathology which deals with basic
alteration in cells or tissues to injurious stimuli , and Systemic
Patholgy which deals with study of diseases pertaining to the
specific organs and body systems.

Subdivision of Pathology:
1. Specific Pathology: It deals with application of basic alteration
learned in general pathology to various specific disease.
2. Experimental Pathology: It is concerned with the production of
lesion through experimental methods.
3. Clinical Pathology: It deals with study of disease and disease process
by means of chemical, microscopic, serological examinations.
4. Post mortem Pathology: It deals with the scientific study of animal
after death.
5. Chemical Pathology: It deals with study of chemical alteration of
body fluids/ tissues that results from disease.
6. Physiological Pathology: It deals with the alteration in the function
of organ/ system. It is also known as Pathophysiology.
7. Nutritional Pathology: It deals with the study of disease due to deficiency or
excess of nutrients.
8. Comparative Pathology: It is the study of diseases of animals with comparative
study in human beings and other animals.
9. Immunopathology: It deals with the study of disease mediated by immune reaction
includes immunodeficiency disease , autoimmunity and hypersensitivity reaction.
10. Cytopathology: It is the microscopic study of cells extracted from tissues or body
fluids to diagnose disease.
11. Forensic Pathology: It is the careful examination and recording of pathological
lesion in case of veterolegal cases
12. Toxopathology: It is the study of structural and functional changes in tissues and
organs caused by toxins/poisons.
13. Oncology: It is the study of neoplasm/ cancer/ tumor.
14. Microscopic Patology or Histopathology: It is the examination of tissue with the
help of a microscope and involves the use of stained tissue section.
15. Molecular Pathology: It is the study of disease at the molecular level, using
techniques like PCR, gene sequencing, and molecular markers to diagnose and
understand genetic and biochemical abnormalities in tissues and cells.
Principles of Pathology

• The principles of pathology are the fundamental concepts that guide the
understanding of how diseases develop, progress, and affect the body. These
principles are part of general pathology, which provides the foundation for all branches
of pathology.
• 1. Aetiology
• 2. Pathogenesis
• 3. Morphologic changes
• 4. Functional derangements and Clinical manifestation
• 5. Cell Injury and Death
• 6. Inflammation and Repair
• 7. Hemodynamic Disorder
• 8. Neoplasia
• 9. Genetic and Developmental Disorder
• 10. Immune System Disorder
1. Aetiology: It is the study of causation of disease. It can be Intrinsic and Extrinsic.
Intrinsic Factors are those which act from within the individual.
A. Genetic or Inherited cause
B. Genus- Specific disease occur in particular genus . E.g. Canine Distemper in
dogs, Swine Fever in pigs.
C. Breed- Certain breeds are more susceptible to some disease than other.e.g.
Dairy cattles are more prone to mastitis, Brain tumors are more common in
Bull dog/ Boxer.
D. Age- Age of animal also influence the occurrence of disease. E.g. Strangles
affect young horses, Tumors in general are more frequent in older animals.
E. Sex- Male and female differ in susceptible for diseases Like Females are
prone to reproductive disorders, Nephritis is more common in males than
female.
F. Color- it may also play role in occurrence of disease such as Mealnosarcoma
in grey/ white horses, Squampous cell carcinoma in white coat color cattle.
Extrinsic Factors are those which influences from outside.
A. Physical causes : It includes traumatic injury, contusions/ bruises, abrasions,
erosions, wounds/cuts, laceration, compression, electricity burns, thermal
injury, injury from radiation and change in atmospheric pressure.
B. Biological causes: It includes causative microorganism like bacteria, virus,
fungi, parasite, arthropods.
C. Chemical causes: It includes toxic chemical/ poison such as biological
toxins(snake venom) bacterial toxins , fungal toxins/mycotoxin (Aflatoxin,
Ergot, Ochratoxins), plant toxins and drug toxicity.
 D. Immunological Reactions: Although immune system acts as
defense system against infectious agent, but immune
reaction may cause cell injury. Ex- Autoimmune reaction,
Anaphylactic reaction or immunodeficiency.
E. Nutritional causes: It causes disease in animal either due to
deficiency or excess of nutrients.

2. Pathogenesis (Mechanism of disease): It is the progressive

development of a disease process from the time it is initiated to its
conclusion, in recovery or death. In other words, pathogenesis refers to
the sequence of events in the response of cells or tissues to the
causal agent, from the initial stimulus to the ultimate expression of
disease. Understanding the biological mechanism by which the cause
leads to the development of disease. The study of pathogenesis remains
important to the subject of pathology.

3. Morphologic Changes: Structural changes in cells and tissues due to

disease, visible through gross or microscopic examination. Lesion is the
macroscopic or microscopic alteration occuring in the tissue as aresult
of injury. Pathognomonic lesion is an alteration that indicates the cause
of particular disease.
4. Functional derangements and Clinical manifestation: Disturbance of function
may show itself as symptom of disease. Thus, a Symptom is a subjective
experienced by patient. Clinical sign is an objective finding which can be observed
by an individual. These changes influence normal functions and determine the
clinical features, course, diagnosis and prognosis of disease. Diagnosis is an act of
identifying disease through clinical signs and symptoms and also through various
laboratory tests. Prognosis is the outcome of disease.
Result or termination of disease occurs in 3 ways – 1. Recovery, 2. Death,
3. Invalidism. If damage is not much and is repairable , it leads to Recovery. If
tissue damage is great and life can not be maintained , it leads to Death. If the
body is not able to completely repair and the extent of injury is not so great as to
kill the animal, it leads to Invalidism.

5. Genetic and Developmental Disorder:

i. Genetic or inherited cause: Transmission of characters to the offspring through
germplasm.
Aberration in chromosomes:
1. Aberration in number: It occurs when no. of chromosome are other than (n) or
(2n).
a. Heteroploidy
b. Duplication and Deficiency
c. Mosaicism
d. Chimerism
2. Abnormalities in Sex chromosomes:
a. Klinefelters syndrome
b. Turner’s syndrome
c. Intersexes
d. Freemartinism
e. Testicular feminization
3. Abnormalities in Autosomal chromosomes:
a. Down’s syndrome
b. Sterility in hybrids
4. Abnormalities in genes:
a. Lethal characters: Inherited from parents and invariably cause death of an
animal, either iin-utero or after birth.
b. Sub-Lethal Factors: Inherited and intrefere with the function of body but
do not cause death of an animal. Ex- infertility in cattle, scrotal hernia in
pigs.
c. Errors in structure or function: Inherited but only affect the structure and
function. Ex- cryptoorchidism, webbed digits.
ii. Non- Genetic or non- inherited defects: Abnormalities not transmitted via
germplasm.
Anomalies are developmental defect affecting an organ or part of the body.
These may be-
1. Disturbance in development: Agenesis/Aplasia, Atresia, Fissure,
Hypoplasia, Fusion of organs.
2. Excess of devlopment: Congenital hypertrophy, increase in number of any
organ or part/ tissue.
3. Displacement during development: displacement of organs or tissues.
Monsters is a disturbance of development in several organs and causes
distortion of foetus. They are classified as 1. Separate twins, 2. United twins.

6. Cell injury and Death: . Cell injury is defined as a variety of stresses a cell
encounters as a result of changes in its internal and external environment. Cell
death is the ultimate result of cell injury and occur in 2 patterns : Necrosis and
Apoptosis.

7. Inflammation and Repair: Inflammation is a complex process of vascular and

cellular alteration occur in body in response to injury including acute and chronic
inflammation and the Repair is the process of healing by replacement of injured
tissue by proliferation of fibrous tissue.
8. Hemodynamic Disorders: Hemodynamic disorders are conditions that
disrupt the normal flow and distribution of blood within the circulatory
system, potentially leading to problems like edema, congestion,
hemorrhage, thrombosis, embolism, or shock.

9. Neoplasia: It refers to a mass of tissue formed as a result of abnormal,

excessive, uncoordinated, autonomous and purposeless proliferation of cells
even after cessation of stimulus for growth which caused it. It may be
Benign or Malignant.

10. Immune System Disorders: Diseases mediated by immune system reaction

including hypersensitivities, autoimmunity, and immunodeficiencies.