Lecture 2

Question 1

What are the four types of tissue?

Answer 1

Epithelial
Connective
Nerve
Muscular

Question 2

What is the structure of epithelial tissue?

Answer 2

Apical and basal surfaces
Always have a basal layer that sits on top of a connective tissue layer
Communicate through junctions on basal and lateral surfaces

Question 3

What are the connective tissue layers of the spinal nerve

Answer 3

Endoneurium
Perineurium
Epineurium

Question 4

Can you give a function of muscles other than movement?

Answer 4

Hormone secretion- heart secrets atrial natriuretic factor which lowers blood pressure

Myostatins which act on the adjacent muscle cell and prevents it from growing

Question 5

What are the smallest and biggest cells in the body?

Answer 5

Sperm cell and oocyte

Question 6

What is the limit of resolution

Answer 6

The smallest distance by which two objects can be separated and still be distinguishable as two separate objects

Question 7

What is the difference in preparation of sample for tem and sem

Answer 7

Use microtome to cut sample in half

Question 8

What are the three types of electron microscopy?

Answer 8

Freeze fracture
Scanning
Emission

Question 9

How thin do samples need to be for microscopy?

Answer 9

2 to 20 micrometers

Question 10

What are the requirements to image tissues by light microscopy?

Answer 10

Preserve with formalin
Fix with paraffin wax
Stain with haematoxylin and eosin

Question 11

Should you use formalin with buffer or not for your tissue sample?

Answer 11

Should use buffer as it prevents water entering and swelling the tissue

Question 12

Can you list some methods of tissue procurement?

Answer 12

D and C dilation and curettage 
Endometrial biopsy 
Pipelle (also endometrial)
Surgical
Venepuncture for blood sample
Bone marrow aspiration using a jamshidi needle 
Swab of cheek cells

Question 13

What would a frozen tissue section be used for?

Answer 13

Surgery as it is quick to prepare and can be used to see if all of a cancer has been removed or not. Can use to check margins to see if clear.

Question 14

What is immunohistochemistry or immunostaining?

Answer 14

Uses antibodies against a specific antigen with a fluorescent tag attached which can be seen.

Question 15

What type of microscopy is used in immunohistochemistry or immunostaining?

Answer 15

Confocal microscopy

Question 16

What is phase contrast microscopy?

Answer 16

Type of light microscopy good for looking at cell cultures. Can see cells going through mitosis etc.

Question 17

Advantages and disadvantages of cell cultures

Answer 17

Advantages: don’t have to use an animal model, homogeneity of sample and control over physical environment

Disadvantages: can only grow a small amount of tissue at a high cost , hard to maintain, can differentiate into different cells and suffer from aneuploidy, can lose 3D structure, influence of other cells and tissues not maintained

Question 18

What is dark field microscopy?

Answer 18

Specialised technique where live cells illuminated with light which will not form part of image. Get a black background with bright objects on it.

Question 19

Why would you use dark field microscopy?

Answer 19

To look at live cells

Question 20

Why would you use light microscopy

Answer 20

Large field of view

Cheap

Question 21

Advantages of confocal microscopy

Answer 21

Images very sharp

Entire depth of cell or tissue can be seen

Question 22

What holds cells together?

Answer 22

Cell to cell adhesion molecules
Extracellular proteins
Internal-external scaffolding
Close proximity (pressure effect)