SarahLockhart

CheekCellLab
I.Introduction:
Inthislab,samplesofcheekcellsweretakenandobserved.Wedidthistodeepenour
understandingofhumancellsandusingmicroscopes.Wethendiscussedwhatwesawandsomeofthe
materialsused.

II.MaterialsandMethods:
Glassmicroscopeslidesandplasticcoverslips
MethyleneBluesolution(0.5%1%)
Sterilecottonswabs
Papertowels

Wefirsttookacottonswabandscrubbeditontheinsideofourcheektocollectcells.Thenwe
wipedthecottonswabontheglassslidetotransferthecellsandaddedadropofmethyleneblue
solutionontothesample.Weplacedaplasticcoverslipontopandusedthepapertoweltocleanupany
excessmethylenebluesolution.Thenweplacedtheslideonthemicroscopeandobservedit.

III.ObservationsandResults:

Isawseverallargegroupsofcellsclumpedtogetherthatwerebluefromthemethyleneblue
solution.Iguessedthatthelargebluedotinthecenterwasthenucleusbecauseitwasinthecenterof
thecellandmatchedupwithimagesofcellsIhaveseenbefore.ButIknewthatitwassurroundedby
cytoplasmandthatithasacellmembraneenclosingthewholecell.Icouldnotdistinguishanyother
organsinthecellaccuratelybecausethereareonlysplotchesofdifferentshadesofblueinthecytoplasm
thatwerentclearenoughtoidentify.

IV.Discussion:
Iwasabletocorrectlyidentifysomepartsofthecellinthislabbasedoffmyprevious
knowledgeofcellanatomy.Thereweresomeobjectsintheside,however,thatdidntlooklikeacell
andIthinktheymayhavebeenparticlesoffoodortoothpasteorbacteriainourmouththatwere
pickedupbythecottonswab.Ithinkifwetriedmultiplesamples,though,wewouldhavebeenableto
moreaccuratelyguesswhatthosewerebecausewewouldhavemoretocompareitto.AndIlearned
thatmethyleneblueisastaincommonlyusedwithcellsinordertomakethemeasiertoobserveand
morevisible.Methyleneblueisparticularlygoodatstainingthenucleiinanimalcells,whichmatcheswith
mypredictionthatthedarkestbluespotwasthenucleus.

V.Conclusion:
Insummary,weobservedhumancheekcellsamplesunderamicroscopeusingmethyleneblue
dyetomakethemmorevisible.Iwasabletoidentifythenucleus,cellwall,andcytoplasmofthecellI
observed.InthislabIlearnedhowtoproperlyuseamicroscopeandgotfirsthandexperience
observingphysicalcells(notjustonlineortextbookimages).Ialsolearnedaboutoneofthecommon
dyesusedincellobservation,methyleneblue.

VI.References:
Bruckner,MonicaZ."BasicCellularStaining."MicrobialLife:EducationalResources.
ScientificEducationResourceCenteratCarletonCollege.
http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/research_methods/microscopy/cellstain.html

"EukaryoticCellInteractiveAnimation."CellsAlive.
http://www.cellsalive.com/cells/cell_model.htm