Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Morphology-Based Distinction Between Healthy and Pathological Cells Utilizing Fourier Transforms and Self-Organizing Maps
Published on: October 28, 2018
Remarks on Selected Morphological Aspects of Cancer Neuroscience: A Microscopic Photo Review
Ewa Iżycka-Świeszewska1,2, Jacek Gulczyński1,2, Aleksandra Sejda3
1Department of Pathology and Neuropathology, Medical University of Gdansk, 80-210 Gdansk, Poland.
Background:
This short review and pictorial essay presents a morphological insight into cancer neuroscience, which is a complex and dynamic area of the pathobiology of tumors.
Methods:
We discuss the different methods and issues connected with structural research on tumor innervation, interactions between neoplastic cells and the nervous system, and dysregulated neural influence on cancer phenotypes.
Results:
Perineural invasion (PNI), the most-visible cancer-nerve relation, is briefly presented, focusing on its pathophysiology and structural diversity as well as its clinical significance. The morphological approach to cancer neurobiology further includes the analysis of neural density/axonogenesis, neural network topographic distribution, and composition of fiber types and size. Next, the diverse range of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides and the neuroendocrine differentiation of cancer cells are reviewed. Another morphological area of cancer neuroscience is spatial or quantitative neural-related marker expression analysis through different detection, description, and visualization methods, also on experimental animal or cellular models.
Conclusions:
Morphological studies with systematic methodologies provide a necessary insight into the structure and function of the multifaceted tumor neural microenvironment and in context of possible new therapeutic neural-based oncological solutions.
Related Concept Videos
Cancer
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Mouse Models of Cancer Study
The development of transgenic, knockout, and knock-in mice has led to an exponential increase in their use as model organisms in research,...
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Mouse Models of Cancer Study
The development of transgenic, knockout, and knock-in mice has led to an exponential increase in their use as model organisms in research,...

