Cells throughout the body obviously exhibit a great degree of variation, both in their morphology and function. As we have seen, however, many cellular structures are common to most cell types. Structures segregated into distinct cellular compartments by membranes include the nucleus and the various organelles in the cytoplasm outside the nucleus. Each of these cellular components has a specific function and one can thus obtain a good indication of a cell’s activity by examining the distribution and morphology of these components. This lab will concentrate on the appearance of the cell nucleus and its contents. How nuclear structures are subdivided during mitosis and how they
change during apoptosis (programmed cell death) are also considered.

Objectives:

• Learn the probable functional activity of a cell based on the appearance of the nucleus and cytoplasmic organelles that are visible.
• Understand the structure and LM cytological appearance of chromosomes, chromatin, during mitosis and in the inter-mitotic period.
• Understand movements of chromosomes during mitosis and recognize the stages of mitosis in sections of blastula and certain adult tissues
• Recognize cells in mitosis from cells undergoing programmed cell death, apoptosis

What does the presence of nucleoli tell you about the function of the cells?

How does the nuclear envelop differ structurally from the cell membrane and how are they similar?

How do the events of mitosis relate to the events of the cell cycle’s S phase?

Apoptotic cells.