SOME POINTS TO REMEMBER WHILE RECORDING YOUR

EXPERIMENTS

◼ All the diagrams should be drawn in the left hand-side page and one side
labelling should be practiced.

◼ Use dotted line to label the diagram.

◼ Diagram should be drawn and labelled with pencil only.

◼ Each diagram should have a title.

◼ Your record book should be maintained neat and clean.

 ONION CELL- PLANT CELL

Aim
To prepare stained temporary mount of onion peel

Theory

1. Plant cell to be studied in lab: Onion peel

2. The cells are very clearly visible as compartments with prominent nucleus in it.
3. The cell walls are very distinctly seen under the microscope.
4. The big vacuoles are also seen in each cell.
5. The cells can be stained very easily using safranin solution.

Materials Required
Onion, slides, coverslips, watch glass, petri dish, forceps, needles, dropper, glycerine,
blotting paper, blade/knife, safranin solution and a microscope.

Procedure

1. Take a medium sized onion, cut its outer surface with knife.
2. Use forceps to remove the peel of onion.
3. With the help of needle separate the small portion of epidermis (peel)
4. Keep dilute safranin solution in a watch glass.
5. Put this small peel in this watch glass with brush and allow it to stain for 3-5
minutes.
6. Transfer the stained peel to another watch glass that contains distilled water in it,
to remove extra stain.
7. Take a clean dry slide and place two drops of water/glycerine on the centre of the
slide.
8. Transfer the stained peel with needle and brush on the middle of the slide, if the
peel curls straighten it and flatten it with brush and needle, do this gently.
9. With the help of blade cut the peel into a square shape.
10. Take a dry and clean coverslip and gently place it on the slide with the help of
needle such that no air bubbles enter in it
11. Gently press the coverslip with needle for even spreading of glycerine.
12. Remove the extra stain and water with the help of blotting paper.
13. Clean the sides of the coverslip with dry blotting paper and place it under the lens
of the microscope and record your observations
Observations
The cells under observation are the plant cells. It consists of cell wall and large
vacuoles. The nucleus is very prominent and is clearly visible.

Inference
Plant cell shows the following:

1. It consists of cell wall.

2. The nucleus is prominent and present at the periphery of cytoplasm.
3. Large vacuoles are seen at the centre of the cell.
4. A lightly stained cytoplasm is present in the cell

Precautions

5. Use dilute stain for staining.

6. Avoid the formation of air-bubbles while placing the coverslip on the slide.
7. Take very thin peel of onion to get a single layer of cells, no overlapping of cells
should be seen.
8. Use dry and clean slide, wipe out extra stain or water present on the sides of the
slide.
 Cheek Cells
Aim: To prepare stained, temporary mount of human cheek cells.

Theory

1. Animal cell to be studied in lab: Cheek cell

2. The cells are flat and irregular in shape, with no cell wall.
3. The nucleus can be seen very prominently in the center of the cell.
4. The nucleus of the cell is stained easily with the methylene blue stain.
5. The cell membrane and the cytoplasm can also be studied through these cells.

Materials Required
Slide, coverslip, watch glass, methylene blue stain, blotting paper, toothpick, needle,
dropper, brush, microscope and glycerine.Procedure

1. Make a dilute methylene blue solution in a watch glass.

2. Keep a clean slide with a drop of distilled water at the middle of the slide.
3. Take a clean/unused toothpick and scrap the inner wall of your mouth/cheek
gently to obtain the epithelial animal tissue, (use the blunt side of toothpick)
4. Transfer the scrap on the middle of the glass slide and put a drop of methylene
blue solution on it, to stain the cells.
5. After 2-3 minutes place the coverslip gently on the cheek cell with the help of
needle and avoid the air bubble. (A drop of glycerine can be spread on the cheek
cells, it is optional)
6. With the help of blotting paper remove the extra stain/water present on the slide.
7. Place the slide under microscope and observe it.

Observations

Cells with irregular shapes are seen.

A prominent nucleus is seen in the middle of the cell.

A thin membrane called plasma-membrane is visible at the boundary of each cell

The cells do not show any intercellular space.

 1. No big vacuoles and cell wall is seen.

Inference
The cells observed under the microscope do not have cell wall and big vacuoles, these
are the cells of animal.

Precautions

1. Use unused/new toothpick for scraping of cheek cells.

2. Placing of coverslip should be done carefully to avoid air bubbles.
3. Avoid overstaining.
4. Use clean/dry mounted slide while placing it under the lens of the microscope.
5. Avoid overlapping of the cells.

To identify the plant tissue - Parenchyma , Collenchyma and Sclerenchyma

Aim

To identify parenchyma and sclerenchyma tissues in plants,from prepared (permanent)

slides and to draw their labelled diagrams.

Theory
Tissues: A group of cells having similar structure, origin and functions is called a tissue.
There are two types of tissues — plant tissues and animal tissues.

Materials Required - Permanent slides of parenchyma tissues, sclerenchyma tissues,

and compound microscope.

Procedure

1. Place the compound microscope where proper light can be received and
reflected on the slide.

2 .Place the permanent slides one by one. Observe its structure and draw
diagrams.

Observations

I. Plant tissues

(a) Parenchymatous tissues:

1. All cells are same in size and length.

2. Corners of the cells show intercellular spaces.
3. Each cell shows prominent nucleus and a large central vacuole.
4. Each cell has thin cell walls.
5. Intercellular spaces are present in between the cell
 6.

Inference

1. These are plant cells as large vacuole is seen and cell wall is present.
2. These are all living cells.
3. These cells are present all over the plant body i.e. — stems, leaves, roots,
flowers and fruits.

(b) Sclerenchymatous tissues:

1. These cells show thick comers and thick cell walls.

2. They do not have any protoplasm in it.
3. They show lignified walls.
4. They can be divided into two types: sclerenchyma fibres and sclereids.
5. These cells are dead.

.
Inference

The sclerenchymatous tissues are dead cells, with hard cell wall and provides
mechanical support to plant. For e.g. coconut husk, hard shells of fruits

c) Collenchymatous tissues:

1. The cells of collenchyma may be oval or elongated.

2. Each cell consists of central nucleus with cytoplasm at the periphery.
3. Cell walls are thickened at the comers. The thickening is due to cellulose
and pectin.
4. Intercellular space is absent.
5. These cells are commonly seen below the epidermis in petiole, leaves and
stems.
6. Its main function is to provide mechanical strength.
Inference

1. These cells have thick comers.

2. There is no space between the cells.
3. The nucleus is prominent at the periphery with cytoplasm but the centre of
the cells consist of vacuole.

II To identify the Animal tissues

Aim

To identify striated animal tissues - muscle fibres and nerve cells in animals, from
prepared (permanent) slides and to draw their labelled diagrams.

Materials Required
Permanent slides of parenchyma tissues, sclerenchyma tissues, straited muscle fibre,
nerve cell and compound microscope.

Procedure

Place the compound microscope where proper light can be received and
reflected on the slide.

Place the permanent slides one by one. Observe its structure and draw diagrams.

(a) Striated muscles:

1. These muscles show long cylindrical fibres.

2. The cells are multinucleated.
3. The muscles show alternate dark and light bands.
4. The cells are surrounded and held by connective tissue.
5. The cells are surrounded by a membrane called as sarcolemma.

Inference

1. The slide shows cylindrical fibres, with dark and light bands
2. These are voluntary muscles and work according to our will.
(b) Non-striated muscles or Smooth muscles:

1. The cells are spindle-shaped.

2. Nucleus is centrally located.
3. These muscles do not show dark and light bands striations.
4. Non-striated muscles are involuntary in nature.
5. They are found in blood vessels and in alimentary canal.

Inference

1. The cells of non-striated muscles are tapering at both the ends i.e., spindle-
shaped.
2. The nucleus is prominent and is centrally located.
3. The dark and light bands are not seen.

(c) Cardiac muscles:

1. Cardiac muscle cells are long, branched and uninucleate.

2. They show alternate light and dark bands.
3. These are involuntary muscles.
4. They are seen only in the walls of heart.
 5. They are non-tiring muscles and responsible for rhythmic contraction and
relaxation of heart muscles throughout life.

Inference

1. These cells are branched and each cell consist of single nucleus.
2. The striations are seen.

(d) Nerve cell:

1. The nerve cells has a neuron with a large body called cyton.
2. The cyton has a prominent nucleus.
3. It has projections called dendrites.
4. One of the dendrite which is long called axon.
 5. The nerve endings are attached to muscles.

Inference

Each nerve cell consists of prominent nucleus and granular cytoplasm with projections
called dendrites

Precautions

1. Handle the microscope carefully.

2. Handle the permanent slides carefully.
3. Always focus the slide first at low power and then at high power