Investigative Techniques

Question 1

What are the requirements to view a tissue under a light microscope?

Answer 1

Preserve, embed, stain

Question 2

What is used to preserve a tissue to be seen under a light microscope?

Answer 2

Formalin

Question 3

What is used to embed a tissue to be seen under a light microscope?

Answer 3

Melted Paraffin that sets hard when cooled

Question 4

What is used to stain a tissue to be seen under a light microscope?

Answer 4

Haematoxylin and Eosin

Question 5

What does Haematoxylin stain and what colour is it?

Answer 5

Stains the nucleus blue

Question 6

What does Eosin stain and what colour is it?

Answer 6

Stains the cytoplasm and extracellular matrix pink

Question 7

How is a frozen section done?

Answer 7

1. Specimen is placed on a disc and frozen to -20 to -30 degrees and becomes rock hard
2. Cryostat is used to cut the specimen
3. Stain with Haematoxylin and Eosin

Question 8

What are the positives and negatives of using a Frozen section?

Answer 8

+-Takes less time

– less quality image

Question 9

How does a fluorescent microscope work?

Answer 9

Fluorophores are added to sample and emit light when irradiated by specific wavelengths of light and so shows the different components of a cell

Question 10

What do samples need to be like for a confocal microscope?

Answer 10

Thinly sliced otherwise light will not pass through

Question 11

What occurs in Autoradiography?

Answer 11

Molecules are labelled with radioactive markers which are injected into live tissues

Question 12

What are the specifications for a light microscope?

Answer 12

Magnification is 1000x

Resolution is 0.2 micrometres

Question 13

What are the specifications for a TEM?

Answer 13

Magnification is 250,000x

Resolution is 1nm

Question 14

What is the difference between NMR and MRI?

Answer 14

MRI is used in medicine

Question 15

What does a low frequency mean for light microscopy?

Answer 15

Less energy and poor resolution