J. F. A. McManus

Who was J. F. A. McManus?

Joseph Forde Anthony McManus, was a Canadian pathologist who is best known for his formulation of one of the most frequently used stains in histopathology; the McManus Periodic acid-Schiff stain. Joe McManus was a pioneer in the field of Histochemistry during its period of expanding growth and application in the 1940s and 1950s. He was, furthermore, an exceptionally observant microscopist. The term he coined "Juxtaglomerular Complex" was used to denote the relationship of the renal tubular macula densa to the arteriolar granular cells. It was derived from his observations that the golgi of the distal tubular cells were reversed to a position beneath the nuclei in the macula densa and that the basement membrane between the macula densa and arteriolar cells was absent. His publications on glomerular obsolescence and late in his career on the dialysis kidney were based upon the same meticulous study of renal morphology.