Almost all of the images presented here were taken using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The electron beam emitted by such a device interacts with the atoms of the desired object, resulting in 3D images of the highest resolution. Magnification of 250,000 times allows you to see details measuring 1-5 nanometers (that is, billionths of a meter).
The first SEM image was obtained in 1935 by Max Knoll, and already in 1965 the Cambridge Instrument Company offered its Stereoscan to DuPont. Now such devices are widely used in research centers.
Looking at the pictures below, you will take a journey through your body, starting from your head and ending with your intestines and pelvic organs. You'll see what normal cells look like and what happens to them when they are attacked by cancer, and you'll also get a visual understanding of how, say, the first meeting of an egg and sperm occurs.
This is what you might call the heart of your blood, the red blood cells (RBCs). These cute biconcave cells have the responsible task of carrying oxygen throughout the body. Typically, in one cubic millimeter of blood there are 4-5 million such cells in women and 5-6 million in men. People living at high altitudes, where there is a lack of oxygen, have even more red cells.
To avoid hair splitting that is invisible to the normal eye, you need to get your hair cut regularly and use good shampoos and conditioners.
Of the 100 billion neurons in your brain, Purkinje cells are some of the largest. Among other things, they are responsible in the cerebellar cortex for motor coordination. They are adversely affected by alcohol or lithium poisoning, as well as autoimmune diseases, genetic disorders (including autism), as well as neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, etc.).
This is what stereocilia, or the sensory elements of the vestibular apparatus inside your ear, look like. By detecting sound vibrations, they control response mechanical movements and actions.
Shown here are the blood vessels of the retina emerging from the black-colored optic disc. This disc is a “blind spot” because there are no light receptors in this area of the retina.
There are about 10,000 taste buds on the human tongue, which help determine the taste of salty, sour, bitter, sweet and spicy.
To avoid deposits on your teeth that look like unthreshed spikelets, it is advisable to brush your teeth more often.
Remember how beautiful healthy red blood cells looked? Now look how they become in the web of a deadly blood clot. In the very center is a white blood cell (leukocyte).
Here is a view of your lung from the inside. The empty cavities are alveoli, where oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide.
Now look at how the lungs deformed by cancer differ from the healthy ones in the previous picture.
The villi of the small intestine increase its area, which promotes better absorption of food. These are irregularly cylindrical outgrowths up to 1.2 millimeters high. The basis of the villi is loose connective tissue. In the center, like a rod, runs a wide lymphatic capillary, or lacteal sinus, and on the sides of it there are blood vessels and capillaries. Fats pass through the milky sinus into the lymph and then into the blood, and proteins and carbohydrates enter the bloodstream through the blood capillaries of the villi. Upon careful examination, you can notice food debris in the grooves.
Here you see a human egg. The egg is covered with a glycoprotein membrane (zona pellicuda), which not only protects it, but also helps to capture and retain sperm. Two coronal cells are attached to the shell.
The photo captures the moment when several sperm try to fertilize an egg.
It looks like a war of the worlds, but in fact, you have an egg in front of you 5 days after fertilization. Some sperm are still retained on its surface. The image was taken using a confocal microscope. The egg and sperm nuclei are purple, while the sperm flagella are green. The blue areas are nexuses, intercellular gap junctions that communicate between cells.
You are present at the beginning of a new life cycle. A six-day-old human embryo is implanted into the endometrium, the lining of the uterine cavity. Let's wish him good luck!
Red blood cells
Split human hair
Purkinje cells
Sensitive ear hairs
Blood vessels of the optic nerve
Taste bud of tongue
Plaque
Pulmonary alveoli
Villi of the small intestine
Let's take a tour of your body using a microscope! Starting from the head and ending with the pelvic organs. I think you will find it very interesting!
Almost all of the images presented here were taken using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The electron beam emitted by such a device interacts with the atoms of the desired object, resulting in 3D images of the highest resolution. Magnification of 250,000 times allows you to see details measuring 1-5 nanometers (that is, billionths of a meter).
The first SEM image was obtained in 1935 by Max Knoll, and already in 1965 the Cambridge Instrument Company offered its Stereoscan to DuPont. Now such devices are widely used in research centers.
1 Red blood cells
Here you can say the basis of your blood is depicted - red blood cells. These cute biconcave cells have the responsible task of carrying oxygen throughout the body. Typically, in one cubic millimeter of blood there are 4-5 million such cells in women and 5-6 million in men. People living at high altitudes, where there is a lack of oxygen, have even more red cells.
2 Split human hair
To avoid such hair splitting, invisible to the ordinary eye, you need to get your hair cut regularly and use good shampoos.
3 Purkinje cells
Of the 100 billion neurons in your brain, Purkinje cells are some of the largest. Among other things, they are responsible in the cerebellar cortex for motor coordination. Alcohol poisoning has a detrimental effect on them.
4 Sensitive ear hairs
This is what stereocilia, or the sensory elements of the vestibular apparatus inside your ear, look like. By detecting sound vibrations, they control response mechanical movements and actions.
5 Blood vessels of the optic nerve
Shown here are the blood vessels of the retina emerging from the black-colored optic disc.
6 Taste bud of tongue
The human tongue has about 10,000 taste buds, which help determine the taste of salty, sour, bitter, sweet and spicy.
7 Plaque
To avoid deposits on your teeth that look like unthreshed spikelets, it is advisable to brush your teeth more often.
8 Pulmonary alveoli
Here is a view of your lung from the inside. The empty cavities are alveoli, where oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide. In a smoker, these alveoli are black. Smoking is harmful to health.
9 Villi of the small intestine
The villi of the small intestine increase its area, which promotes better absorption of food. These are irregularly cylindrical outgrowths up to 1.2 millimeters high. The basis of the villi is loose connective tissue. Upon careful examination, you can notice food debris in the grooves.
Take care of your health!
The human body is a form of existence of living matter. Metabolism occurs continuously in it and the ability to reproduce is maintained. The science that studies tissue cells and extracellular structures that have a common structure and function is called histology. The purpose of this review is to get acquainted with the tissues under microscope- biology in this topic is closely intertwined with medicine. The first knowledge was obtained long before the invention of optical instruments, but in our time histological studies are almost unthinkable without microscopy.
Let's consider tissue under a microscope- Biology classifies them into four groups. Epithelial- the outer layer of human skin, lining the body cavities, forming glands and membranes of internal organs. It is divided into glandular, cubic and squamous epithelium. The cells have the appearance shown in Figure 1.
Connective(auxiliary) - provides strength, elasticity and support for all organs, containing on average 70-80 percent of their mass. It retains heat, prevents damage, shock, and makes up the stroma and dermis. It is divided into cartilaginous, bone, fatty and dense.
Muscular- responsible for movement, capable of contractions, i.e. changes in cell size under the influence of biologically active chemical substances. Classification: striated skeletal, cardiac, smooth.
Nervous- creates conditions for the interconnected regulation of the activity of all systems and consists of electrically excitable neurons (contain a nucleus and many processes).
The technique for studying tissues involves making a microspecimen and viewing it under a microscope. The microscopy method is called the “transmitted light bright field method”. What this means: light rays pass upward through the preparation and magnifying lenses, forming an image. To ensure this process, you will need bottom lighting - mirror or LED.
Preparation of histological sample:
- The tissue fragment is fixed. Its goal is to preserve the intravital structure, for which long-term treatment is carried out with an aqueous solution of formaldehyde (formalin). This prevents it from rotting and decay.
- Dehydration for subsequent microtomy. This imparts hardness. Compaction can be achieved by successive immersion in xylene and ethyl alcohol. Isopropanol is also used due to its low toxicity.
- Filling with molten paraffin.
- Cutting pieces with a thickness of 1-50 microns (micrometers) using a microtome.
- Tinting with hematoxylin and eosin makes all significant areas of the microsample contrasting.
- Conclusion between slide and cover glass. At high magnifications, this will provide better focusing across the entire plane.
- The magnification factor should change gradually from low to high. Initially use the combination: 4x objective, 10x eyepiece, which together gives 4*10=40x.
- Place the tissue microslide strictly in the center of the microscope stage and check that the condenser (disk with diaphragms) is facing the widest hole towards the illuminator.
- Focus smoothly and slowly, avoid shaking and careless touching of the tripod.
The human body is such a complex and well-coordinated “mechanism” that most of us cannot even imagine! This series of photographs taken using electron microscopy will help you learn a little more about your body and see what we cannot see in our ordinary lives. Welcome to the authorities!
Alveoli of the lungs with two red blood cells (erythrocytes). (photo CMEABG-UCBL/Phanie)
30x enlargement of the base of the nail.
The iris of the eye and adjacent structures. In the lower right corner is the edge of the pupil (blue). (photo by STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)
Red blood cells fall out (so to speak) from the broken capillary.
Nerve ending. This nerve ending was dissected to reveal vesicles (orange and blue) containing chemicals that are used to transmit signals in the nervous system. (photo by TINA CARVALHO)
Clotted blood.
Red blood cells in the artery.
Human lungs.
Taste receptors on the tongue.
Eyelashes, 50x magnification.
Finger pad, 35x magnification. (photo by Richard Kessel)
Sweat pore that comes to the surface of the skin.
Blood vessels coming from the optic nerve nipple (where the optic nerve enters the retina).
The egg that gives rise to a new organism is the largest cell in the human body: its weight is equal to the weight of 600 sperm.
Sperm. Only one sperm penetrates the egg, breaking through the layer of small cells that surround it. As soon as he gets into her, no other sperm can do this.
Human embryo and sperm. The egg was fertilized 5 days ago, and some remaining sperm are still attached to it.
An 8-day embryo at the beginning of its life cycle...
Cancer cells develop from healthy particles in the body. They do not penetrate tissues and organs from the outside, but are part of them.
Under the influence of factors that have not been fully studied, malignant formations stop responding to signals and begin to behave differently. The appearance of the cell also changes.
A malignant tumor is formed from a single cell that has become cancerous. This happens due to modifications occurring in genes. Most malignant particles have 60 or more mutations.
Before the final transformation into a cancer cell, it goes through a series of transformations. As a result, some of the pathological cells die, but a few survive and become cancerous.
When a normal cell mutates, it goes into the stage of hyperplasia, then atypical hyperplasia, and turns into carcinoma. Over time, it becomes invasive, that is, it moves throughout the body.
What is a healthy particle
It is generally accepted that cells are the first step in the organization of all living organisms. They are responsible for ensuring all vital functions, such as growth, metabolism, and transmission of biological information. In the literature they are usually called somatic, that is, those that make up the entire human body, except for those that take part in sexual reproduction.
The particles that make up a person are very diverse. However, they share a number of common features. All healthy elements go through the same stages of their life journey. It all starts at birth, then the process of maturation and functioning occurs. It ends with the death of the particle as a result of the activation of a genetic mechanism.
The process of self-destruction is called apoptosis, it occurs without disturbing the viability of surrounding tissues and inflammatory reactions.
During their life cycle, healthy particles divide a certain number of times, that is, they begin to reproduce only if there is a need. This happens after receiving a signal to divide. There is no division limit in reproductive and stem cells and lymphocytes.
Five interesting facts
Malignant particles are formed from healthy tissue. As they develop, they begin to differ significantly from ordinary cells.
Scientists were able to identify the main features of tumor-forming particles:
- Endlessly divisible– the pathological cell constantly doubles and increases in size. Over time, this leads to the formation of a tumor consisting of a huge number of copies of the cancer particle.
- Cells separate from each other and exist autonomously– they lose their molecular connection with each other and stop sticking together. This leads to the movement of malignant elements throughout the body and their settling on various organs.
- Can't manage its life cycle– p53 protein is responsible for cell restoration. In most cancer cells, this protein is faulty, so life cycle control is not established. Experts call this defect immortality.
- Lack of development– malignant elements lose their signal with the body and engage in endless division without having time to mature. Because of this, multiple gene errors are formed in them, affecting their functional abilities.
- Each cell has different external parameters– pathological elements are formed from various healthy parts of the body, which have their own characteristics in appearance. Therefore, they differ in size and shape.
There are malignant elements that do not form a lump, but accumulate in the blood. An example is leukemia. Cancer cells get more and more errors as they divide. This leads to the fact that subsequent elements of the tumor may be completely different from the initial pathological particle.
Many experts believe that cancer particles begin to move inside the body immediately after the formation of a tumor. To do this, they use blood and lymphatic vessels. Most of them die as a result of the immune system, but a few survive and settle on healthy tissues.
All detailed information about cancer cells in this scientific lecture:
The structure of a malignant particle
Disturbances in genes lead not only to changes in the functioning of cells, but also to disorganization of their structure. They change in size, internal structure, and the shape of the complete set of chromosomes. These visible abnormalities allow specialists to distinguish them from healthy particles. Examining cells under a microscope allows cancer to be diagnosed.
Core
Tens of thousands of genes are located in the nucleus. They control the functioning of the cell, dictating its behavior. Most often, the nuclei are located in the central part, but in some cases they can move to one side of the membrane.
In cancer cells, the nuclei vary the most; they become larger and acquire a spongy structure. The nuclei have depressed segments, a rugged membrane, and enlarged and distorted nucleoli.
Proteins
The Protein Challenge in performing basic functions that are necessary to maintain cell viability. They transport nutrients to it, convert them into energy, and transmit information about changes in the external environment. Some proteins are enzymes whose job is to convert unused substances into needed products.
In a cancer cell, proteins change and they lose the ability to do their job correctly. Errors affect enzymes and the particle's life cycle is altered.
Mitochondria
The part of the cell in which products such as proteins, sugars, and lipids are converted into energy is called mitochondria. This transformation uses oxygen. As a result, toxic wastes such as free radicals are formed. It is believed that they can trigger the process of turning a cell into a cancerous one.
Plasma membrane
All elements of the particle are surrounded by a wall made of lipids and proteins. The membrane's job is to keep them all in place. In addition, it blocks the path of those substances that should not enter the cell from the body.
Special membrane proteins, which are its receptors, perform an important function. They transmit coded messages to the cell, according to which it reacts to changes in the environment.
Misreading of genes leads to changes in receptor production. Because of this, the particle does not become aware of changes in the external environment and begins to lead an autonomous way of existence. This behavior leads to cancer.
Malignant particles of different organs
Cancer cells can be recognized by their shape. Not only do they behave differently, but they also look different from normal ones.
Scientists from Clarkson University conducted research which resulted in the conclusion that healthy and pathological particles differ in geometric shape. For example, malignant cervical cancer cells have a higher degree of fractality.
Fractal are geometric shapes that consist of similar parts. Each of them looks like a copy of the entire figure.
Scientists were able to obtain images of cancer cells using an atomic force microscope. The device made it possible to obtain a three-dimensional map of the surface of the particle being studied.
Scientists continue to study changes in fractality during the process of converting normal particles into cancer particles.
Lungs' cancer
Lung pathology can be non-small cell or small cell. In the first case, tumor particles divide slowly; in later stages, they are pinched off from the maternal lesion and move throughout the body due to the flow of lymph.
In the second case, the neoplasm particles are small in size and prone to rapid division. Over the course of a month, the number of cancer particles doubles. Elements of the tumor can spread both to organs and bone tissue.
The cell has an irregular shape with rounded areas. Multiple growths of different structures are visible on the surface. The color of the cell at the edges is beige, and towards the middle it turns red.
Breast cancer
Tumor formation in the breast may consist of particles that have been transformed from components such as connective and glandular tissue, ducts. The tumor elements themselves can be large or small. In highly differentiated breast pathology, the particles are distinguished by nuclei of the same size.
The cell has a round shape, its surface is loose and heterogeneous. Long straight shoots protrude from it in all directions. At the edges the color of the cancer cell is lighter and brighter, but inside it is darker and more saturated.
Skin cancer
Skin cancer is most often associated with the transformation of melanocytes into a malignant form. The cells are located in the skin in any part of the body. Experts often associate these pathological changes with prolonged exposure to the open sun or in a solarium. Ultraviolet radiation promotes the mutation of healthy skin elements.
Cancer cells develop on the surface of the skin for a long time. In some cases, pathological particles behave more aggressively, quickly growing deep into the skin.
Oncology cell It has a rounded shape, with multiple villi visible across its entire surface. Their color is lighter than that of the membrane.
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