CELLS: THE FUNCTIONAL UNITS OF ORGANISMS ©David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Chemistry University of Cincinnati Clermont College Batavia OH 45103
Cells in cork,  a la Hooke	This page has been accessed  times since 27 Sept 2002.	Cells in cartilage,  a la Schwann

Robert Hooke first described cells in cork in Micrographia, pp 112-116 (1665). Later, the unified cell theory developed from the combined works of a botanist, Mattias Schleiden who published a study of the cellular nature of plant tissues in 1838, and a zoologist, Theodor Schwann, who studied animal tissues and illustrated cells he found in cartilage. In their joint paper of 1839, they proposed the theory that all organisms are composed of cells (unified cell theory).

We will repeat some of these classical studies by preparing and examining a variety of plant and animal tissues to search for evidence of their cellular composition. Remember to strictly follow correct protocol for microscope use.
 

MATERIALS:
(Wash all tools immediately after each use. Do not let material dry out on them.)
 

100x                         400x	1. CORK: Repeat the experiment of Robert Hooke: First slice off a "good clear piece of cork" with a single-edged razor blade to produce a smooth, clean surface. Then shave a wedge of cork as thin as possible from the clean surface. Examine the thinnest edge of the slice under the microscope, and illustrate its structure seen at 400x. What exactly are you seeing?
unstained, 100x	2. ONION EPITHELIUM: Prepare a slide with three spots: 1) dry, 2) drop of water, 3) drop of methylene blue. Slice a wedge from a fresh onion and discard the outer layer or two. Separate a fresh layer and break it back to the membranous outer layer of epithelium. Peel off epithelium with forceps, cut into three small pieces, apply one to each of the three prepared spots on the slide (keep flat). Cover with cover slips. Write out your observations of each: 1) dry mount, 2) wet mount with water, 3) wet mount with methylene blue. Which mounting technique resolved the most detail? Illustrate any evidence of stained cells seen at 100x and 400x (on the same page). Label: plasma membrane, nucleus, nucleolus, and cytoplasm.  Search for stomata, especially in outer epithelium.  Here is a stoma stained.
Onion stained, 400x	Onion Epithelium stained.  Note the nuclei apparent in many of the cells.
unstained                 100x	3. CHICKEN CARTILAGE: Slice an ultra-thin section of the hyaline cartilage from a chicken breast bone as you did for the cork in exercise 1. Prepare a wet mount in water and a wet mount in methylene blue. Compare the two views. Illustrate any evidence of stained cells seen at 400x. Why was this material a fortunate choice for Schwann to first study animal cells? (cells = chondrocytes. The space between = matrix). (Wash tools immed.)
100x                          400x	Chicken Cartilage stained.  Chondrocytes are embedded in a matrix which does not take the stain as well as the cells.
400x	4. HYALINE CARTILAGE, PREPARED SLIDE: Examine hyaline cartilage as seen in the prepared slide (H 680) from a cross section of the trachea. Compare with the section you prepared in 3, illustrate at 400x. Label: matrix, lacunae and chondrocytes.
muscle striations  400x    sarcomere     400x	5.  CHICKEN MUSCLE: For a contrasting tissue, cut a very thin section of muscle, suspend in stain, squash under a cover slip. Note muscle fibers at 100x, striations at 400x.  The greenish oblong features running along and above the muscle fiber are mitochondria.