It’s time for a Biology class!!

Cells are studied with a microscope and after learning about the differences between eukaryotic plant and animal cells and looking at prepared slides of cells and understanding the reason for staining, the subject of cells becomes more interesting. Why you might ask? Cells don’t all look the same, there are different structures and functions to understand and the reasons for why cells can become specialised. In order for cells to develop and survive they divide and this ability to divide is controlled by a series of stages called the cell cycle. There are two main stages of the cell cycle which are ‘Growth and Replication’ which is followed by ‘Mitosis’.

The process of mitosis enables a cell to divide into two exact copies which are identical to the original cell. When the cell is ready to divide as controlled by the cell cycle, the process of mitosis begins and proceeds in stages. These stages are in an order of Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and finally Cytokinesis.

Now remember, that in order to see the contents of cells under the microscope, staining is used. Some staining is used to show the main contents of the cell but some contents of cells need special stains in order to show themselves under the microscope. The slide for this photograph has been specially stained to show an important part of the mitosis process – the spindles. Does the cell in the centre of the photograph clearly show a stage of mitosis? If so, what is the stage? If you review the stages of mitosis you will recall that the two sets of chromosomes are pulled to opposite ends of the cell. This slide shows this process in its initial stage. This part of the process is usually shown clearly in text book drawing illustrations but classroom slides usually do not. For study it is always a good idea to view a microscope slide of the plant or animal cells that text books refer to – seeing is believing in science and biology!

The spindles shown in this slide are very small and can best be seen using the very highest power objective lens (in this case an oil immersion lens of 100X magnification). Such specimens are also useful to appreciate how to operate a microscope correctly and also to practise drawing your observation neatly with a pencil as well as taking a photograph. This particular photograph was taken with a MoticamX Wi-Fi camera and shows how even the finest detail of a cell can be captured digitally.