The year 2000 in histochemistry and cell biology

In their recent review on membrane traffic, Mellman and Warren (2000) wrote :"The greatest scientific advance of the last 1000 years was providing the evidence to prove that human beings are independent agents whose lives on e arth are neither conferred nor controlled by celestial forces. Although it may be more conventional to measure scientific progress in terms of specifi c technological developments, nothing was more important than providing the means to release men and women from the hegemony of the supernatural." The progress during the last two decades in histochemistry and cytochemistry r eflects the duality between method and meaning. Histochemistry has develope d from a discipline primarily focussing on development and improvement of m ethods to an application-oriented one by investigating various aspects of d evelopmental and cell biology, neurobiology, and experimental as well as di agnostic pathology. The progress made during the year 2000 will be the focu s of this review.