We can describe anatomy as a science that is interested in the study of the body of a living being in terms of its shape, its organic composition, the elements that are part of it, its functioning, its possible alterations, etc. Both human and veterinary anatomy is one of the most important branches of medicine or veterinary medicine and considered as basic since the various, more specific branches emerge from the description that it makes of the organism in question. The human being has developed anatomical practices since time immemorial, practices that have allowed him to know more and better the functioning of not only the human organism but also the different types of animal organisms, being able to establish relationships and differences with the first.
Anatomy is in most cases a descriptive science. This means that its main function is to describe the organism to be studied and thus indicate not only the parts that compose it (for example, organs, tissues, cells) but also its functioning in an integrative sense, that is, linking the elements. different organs with each other, establishing relationships and analyzing what happens when those relationships or interdependencies break down. Anatomy is used in this way for other branches of medicine and veterinary medicine since it is from it that they can be established. For example, branches of medicine such as infectology need the information provided by anatomy to know what the correct functioning of an organ is and understand why it is altered in the event of an infection.
Anatomy is together with histology (the study of tissues) and cytology (the study of cells) one of the central parts of the medical or veterinary career. It can be divided into two large branches known as macroscopic anatomy and microscopic anatomy. While the first can work with the naked eye because it focuses on the study of the elements of the organic structure visible without the help of a microscope, the second will be the one that is dedicated to all the phenomena that must be used by microscopes and other devices. to be studied.
