Experimental pathology or investigative pathology, is the study of disease mechanisms and pathophysiology.
Definition
The American Society for Investigative Pathology defines the field as follows:
- Investigative pathology is an integrative discipline that links the presentation of disease in the whole organism to its fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms. It uses a variety of structural, functional, and genetic techniques and ultimately applies research findings to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.[1].
Methods
Most of the work of investigative pathologists is carried out in the laboratory. Tissue culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ELISA, western blot, southern blot, northern blot and many other biotechnological methods are required to identify differences between normal and disease states in different cell types with regards to DNA, RNA, and protein as well as determining the influence of these differences on the organism as a whole.
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