Abstract
Overall, this DVD will find the greatest appeal with pathologists, study directors, and laboratory technicians that are involved in inhalational toxicology studies. It is less useful for personnel that are involved in toxicology studies that fall under the umbrella of “standard” general toxicology, where the respiratory system is routinely evaluated microscopically via the examination of 2 sections of lung and a section of trachea.
The DVD is set up like a self-guided interactive course on the collection and processing of the lungs, trachea, larynx, and nasal cavity; additional features include numerous photomicrographs of these tissues. Navigation is intuitive, with controls at the bottom of the screen, as well as a menu button, which can be selected at any time if the user wishes to jump to a specific topic.
A helpful “read me” file is included on the DVD, which states that the program is set up to run on any operating system. The user may choose either full screen mode or compact mode to launch from the DVD startup window. Both the full screen and compact modes ran smoothly on my computer, with minimal loading time between screens. If a user is experiencing a lot of lag time due to a slow CD drive, the files can be copied to a hard drive and the program can be launched from there. I tested this out, and perceived a little less hesitation between screens, and I appreciated the convenience of having the program always available on my computer. There is extensive animation and detailed text, all of which is narrated by a pleasant voice. Adding immensely to the experience is soothing elevator-like background music. Fortunately, I also found a music volume reduction knob and considered this option to be a very insightful addition.
There are 3 major tutorials: lung and trachea, larynx, and nasal cavity. Each tutorial begins with a freely rotatable gross photo of the tissue. Serial MRI images of the larynx and nasal cavity are also provided, which can be viewed frame-by-frame or as a video scan. Next, detailed animated illustrations on the collection, handling, and fixation of the various tissues are presented. In the lung tutorial, video lessons on either gravity flow formalin inflation or positive pressure formalin infusion are available for viewing. These videos could be useful for both inexperienced and experienced necropsy personnel, or pathologists who are unfamiliar with the ideal steps and potential pitfalls of these 2 common fixation methods.
Animated instructions on trimming and embedding the various sections specifically for inhalation toxicology studies are provided, which are important for consistency within and between studies. After each collection tutorial there are numerous low and high magnification photomicrographs on normal histology, common spontaneous lesions, and treatment-related (steroids, irritants, vasoactive compounds) pathology. These photomicrographs are generally of high quality, especially those of greater magnifications, and for the most part fulfilled the quality expected from a computer display. The normal histology photomicrographs are mostly complete, but as expected, the lesion photos only touch on potential respiratory system pathology. In general, the photomicrographs are helpful, but pose little threat to replacing a good respiratory pathology textbook. At the end of each section an extensive reference list is provided, which allows for further reading.
Features that would have made this DVD even more useful, in my opinion, would be a “Search” box, the ability to print or download the photomicrographs, and a “Play All” function that could be selected that would display all of the collection tutorials without the need to manually advance between each animation, and provide a means to project the entire respiratory system collection protocol to a large audience (such as an entire laboratory group) via an LCD projector and speakers for the narration. A minor, but noteworthy, annoyance I found was the need to press the “UP” arrow instead of “DOWN” arrow to scroll down through the vertically arranged ribbon of thumbnails; a slide-sorter view might have been a better means of photomicrograph navigation.
In summary, I would like to commend the pathology and technical staff from GSK, Charles River, and EPL for their efforts in putting together this wonderful reference on the collection protocol for inhalational studies, and it is hoped these efforts focusing on other organ systems are continued in the future. I would recommend this DVD to both inhalational toxicologic pathologists in training and experienced inhalational toxicologic pathologists looking for a succinct digital reference as well as a handy aid for the instruction of support personnel involved in the collection and processing. It is less useful for pathologists that do not evaluate inhalational studies. Copies of the DVD can be requested from 〈