Cytochemistry is the branch of cell biology dealing with the detection of cell constituents by means of biochemical analysis and visualization techniques. This is the study of the localization of cellular components through the use of staining methods. [1] The term is also used to describe a process of identification of the biochemical content of cells. Cytochemistry is a science of localizing chemical components of cells and cell organelles on thin histological sections by using several techniques like enzyme localization, micro-incineration, micro-spectrophotometry, radioautography, cryo-electron microscopy, X-ray microanalysis by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, immunohistochemistry and cytochemistry, etc. [2]
Freeze fracture enzyme cytochemistry was initially mentioned in the study of Pinto de silva in 1987. [3] It is a technique that allows the introduction of cytochemistry into a freeze fracture cell membrane. immunocytochemistry is used in this technique to label and visualize the cell membrane's molecules. This technique could be useful in analyzing the ultrastructure of cell membranes. [4] The combination of immunocytochemistry and freeze fracture enzyme technique, research can identify and have a better understanding of the structure and distribution of a cell membrane. [5]
Jean Brachet's research in Brussel demonstrated the localization and relative abundance between RNA and DNA in the cells of both animals and plants opened up the door into the research of cytochemistry. The work by Moller and Holter in 1976 about endocytosis which discussed the relationship between a cell's structure and function had established the needs of cytochemical research. [6]
Cytochemical research aims to study individual cells that may contain several cell types within a tissue. It takes a nondestructive approach to study the localization of the cell. By remaining the cell components intact, researcher are able to study the intact cell activity rather than studying an isolated biochemical activity which the result may be influenced by the distorted cell membrane and spatial difference. [6]
Cell biology is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and functioning of organisms. Cell biology is the study of the structural and functional units of cells. Cell biology encompasses both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and has many subtopics which may include the study of cell metabolism, cell communication, cell cycle, biochemistry, and cell composition. The study of cells is performed using several microscopy techniques, cell culture, and cell fractionation. These have allowed for and are currently being used for discoveries and research pertaining to how cells function, ultimately giving insight into understanding larger organisms. Knowing the components of cells and how cells work is fundamental to all biological sciences while also being essential for research in biomedical fields such as cancer, and other diseases. Research in cell biology is interconnected to other fields such as genetics, molecular genetics, molecular biology, medical microbiology, immunology, and cytochemistry.
An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. They use electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing them to produce magnified images or electron diffraction patterns. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times smaller than that of visible light, electron microscopes have a much higher resolution of about 0.1 nm, which compares to about 200 nm for light microscopes. Electron microscope may refer to:
Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures visible without a microscope. Although one may divide microscopic anatomy into organology, the study of organs, histology, the study of tissues, and cytology, the study of cells, modern usage places all of these topics under the field of histology. In medicine, histopathology is the branch of histology that includes the microscopic identification and study of diseased tissue. In the field of paleontology, the term paleohistology refers to the histology of fossil organisms.
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, providing structure to cells and organisms, and transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific 3D structure that determines its activity.
In biochemistry, immunostaining is any use of an antibody-based method to detect a specific protein in a sample. The term "immunostaining" was originally used to refer to the immunohistochemical staining of tissue sections, as first described by Albert Coons in 1941. However, immunostaining now encompasses a broad range of techniques used in histology, cell biology, and molecular biology that use antibody-based staining methods.
Phalloidin belongs to a class of toxins called phallotoxins, which are found in the death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides). It is a rigid bicyclic heptapeptide that is lethal after a few days when injected into the bloodstream. The major symptom of phalloidin poisoning is acute hunger due to the destruction of liver cells. It functions by binding and stabilizing filamentous actin (F-actin) and effectively prevents the depolymerization of actin fibers. Due to its tight and selective binding to F-actin, derivatives of phalloidin containing fluorescent tags are used widely in microscopy to visualize F-actin in biomedical research.
Immunofluorescence(IF) is a light microscopy-based technique that allows detection and localization of a wide variety of target biomolecules within a cell or tissue at a quantitative level. The technique utilizes the binding specificity of antibodies and antigens. The specific region an antibody recognizes on an antigen is called an epitope. Several antibodies can recognize the same epitope but differ in their binding affinity. The antibody with the higher affinity for a specific epitope will surpass antibodies with a lower affinity for the same epitope.
In cell biology, a granule is a small particle barely visible by light microscopy. The term is most often used to describe a secretory vesicle containing important components of cell phyisology. Examples of granules include granulocytes, platelet granules, insulin granules, germane granules, starch granules, and stress granules.
A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances. "Fluorescence microscope" refers to any microscope that uses fluorescence to generate an image, whether it is a simple set up like an epifluorescence microscope or a more complicated design such as a confocal microscope, which uses optical sectioning to get better resolution of the fluorescence image.
Immunocytochemistry (ICC) is a common laboratory technique that is used to anatomically visualize the localization of a specific protein or antigen in cells by use of a specific primary antibody that binds to it. The primary antibody allows visualization of the protein under a fluorescence microscope when it is bound by a secondary antibody that has a conjugated fluorophore. ICC allows researchers to evaluate whether or not cells in a particular sample express the antigen in question. In cases where an immunopositive signal is found, ICC also allows researchers to determine which sub-cellular compartments are expressing the antigen.
John E. Heuser is an American Professor of Biophysics in the department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the Washington University School of Medicine as well as a Professor at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) at Kyoto University.
Immunolabeling is a biochemical process that enables the detection and localization of an antigen to a particular site within a cell, tissue, or organ. Antigens are organic molecules, usually proteins, capable of binding to an antibody. These antigens can be visualized using a combination of antigen-specific antibody as well as a means of detection, called a tag, that is covalently linked to the antibody. If the immunolabeling process is meant to reveal information about a cell or its substructures, the process is called immunocytochemistry. Immunolabeling of larger structures is called immunohistochemistry.
Oxytalan fibers are elastic-like fibers that run parallel to the tooth surface and bend to attach to cementum. Fibrillin builds the oxytalan fibers, which causes the elastic behavior.
Antigen retrieval is a non-enzymatic pretreatment for immunostaining to reduce or eliminate the chemical modifications caused by formalin fixation, through high temperature heating or strong alkaline solution (non-heating).
Alex Benjamin Novikoff was a Russian Empire–born American biologist who is recognized for his pioneering works in the discoveries of cell organelles. A victim of American Cold War antagonism to communism that he supported, he is also recognized as a public figure of the mid-20th century at the height of McCarthyism in America. As his original discoveries such as cell organelles and autophagy earned other scientists Nobel Prizes, he is regarded as one of the overlooked scientists to get Nobel Prize.
The Mastigont system is a series of structures found in several Protists such as thrichomonads and amoebae. It is formed by the basal bodies and several other structures composed of fibrils. Their function is not fully understood. The system is studied and visualised mainly through techniques such as plasma membrane extraction, high-voltage electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, the cell-sandwich technique, freeze-etching, and immunocytochemistry.
Standards for the identification of cell death have changed. Cell death used to be defined and described based on morphology. Now there is a switch in classifying it basing on molecular and genetic definitions. This description is more functional and applies to both in vitro and in vivo, so cell death subroutines are now described by a series of precise, measurable, biochemical features. A set of recommendations for describing the terminology of cell death was proposed by the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) in 2009, because misusing words and concepts may slow down progress in the area of cell death research.
Cell unroofing is any of various methods to isolate and expose the cell membrane of cells. Differently from the more common membrane extraction protocols performed with multiple steps of centrifugation, in cell unroofing the aim is to tear and preserve patches of the plasma membrane in order to perform in situ experiments using.
Lucas Andrew Staehelin was a retired Swiss-American cell biologist. He was professor emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Freeze-fracture is a natural occurrence leading to processes like erosion of the earths crust or simply deterioration of food via freeze-thaw cycles. To investigate the process further freeze-fracture is artificially induced to view in detail the properties of materials. Fracture during freezing is often the result of crystallizing water which results in expansion. Crystallization is also a factor leading to chemical changes of a substance due to changes in the crystal surroundings called eutectic formation.
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