BCOR 103 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Last Lecture I Not Applicable Outline of Current Lecture II Cell Theory History III Cell Imaging and Microscopy IV Immunofluorescence V Confocal Scanning Microscopy Current Lecture In 1805 cell theory began with the train of thought that the cell is the basic structural and functional unit of an organism Later in the 1830 s it was accepted that the cell is living In the 1850 s cells were stained and the nucleus was discovered A decade later it was deduced that cells are capable of independent reproduction Also in the 1860 s it was determined that there is no such thing as spontaneous reproduction all life stems from previous life During the 1860 s Mendel was forming his theory of chromosome inheritance but it wasn t until 1903 when his theory was accepted and used in determining the purpose of chromosomes within a cell The field of cell imaging was pushed immensely once it was determined that cells are a living thing There was an overwhelming urgency in the field to be able to study these small specimens and to do that microscopes needed to advance Microcopy is composed of three parts resolution contrast and magnification Resolution is the ability to see small things clearly even when they are quite close to each other Contrast is the ability to view something on its own while it is next to its surroundings i e the ability to view a single cell even when it is packed closely to other cells Lastly magnification which is the ability to enlarge the image of something in order to see it better These three factors make up the basics of microscopy A standard microscope is comprised of an ocular lens an objective lens a condenser lens and a light source The ocular lens is the one you look through the objective lens is the one used to magnify an image and the condenser lens is used to direct the light into the specimen more precisely that just shining a light and allowing the photons to go everywhere These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Immunofluorescence is when antibodies are generated to a region of interest in a cell These antibodies can be tagged with a fluorescent dye which when applied to the cell can show where in the cell the antigen is located Some antigens can be located on specific proteins This has multiple applications when studying cells A light microscope is not powerful enough for a specimen that is three dimensional Obviously all specimens are three dimensional and when they are thin enough a light microscope can suffice However when a specimen is thick confocal microscopy can be used to see the inside of a specimen A confocal microscope uses fluorescent light and a laser to focus on a plane within the specimen By doing this one can see the middle of a specimen the bottom the top and everything in between
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