Exercise 2A: The Animal Cell

Serene Mae R. Jaucian

ZOO 11 Y-2L

2008-05664

February 4, 2016

ABSTRACT
Background. As the basic component of life, cell has been widely explored in order to have a better
understanding of what life is and how it works. Particularly on the parts of an animal cell, this exercise was
conducted to have deeper comprehension of the cells basic structure and its functions.
Methods. Substances having similar structures of the cell were used to demonstrate cells underlying
concepts. Human cheek cells made visible under the microscope to identify the basic composition of the
cell. To explain the characteristics of the plasma membrane, oil was mixed with water, milk was denatured,
and egg albumin was combined with oil. Ink movement in water was observed and water passing into the
egg shell membrane to put pressure in the eggs volume inside the thistle tube. Red blood cells were
observed when dropped in distilled water, 0.9% and 10% NaCl solutions.
Results.

The experiments done were able to distinguished plasma membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus

appearances apart from each other. Plasma membranes permeability, composition and flexibility were also
similarly demonstrated. The concept of diffusion when certain substance with higher concentration was
dispersed into an area of lower concentration which is similar to that of solutes enter the cell. Osmosis was
shown similarly as water molecules moved inside the membrane and pushed the volume of the area with
lower water concentration which resulted having measured 3.81cm of volume inside the thistle tube.
Hypoosmotic, isosmotic and hyperosmotic were exhibited by hemolysis, retention of cells shape and
crenation of red blood cells, respectively.

INTRODUCTION
According to the cell theory, all living organisms are composed of cells (Hickman et al., 2008).
Cells, therefore, are the fundamental units of life. Upon invention and continuous development of the
microscope, observation of inside of the cell was made possible (Alberts et al., 2010). It was then
discovered there are two types of cell, the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Eukaryotic cells being different
from prokaryotic cells, possessing a prominent organelle called nucleus made all animals belong on this
type of cell (Hickman et al., 2008).
Aside from the nucleus, an animal cells basic structure has plasma membrane and cytoplasm.
Plasma membrane is a permeability barrier that regulates the flow of molecules into and out of the cell, and

provide many of the unique functional properties of specialized cells. The cytoplasm includes all of the
cells contents outside the nucleus and contains a variety of membrane-enclosed organelles with specialized
chemical functions (Alberts et al., 2010).
As substances enter the cell across a plasma membrane, one of the principal ways is by diffusion
along a concentration gradient. It is the movement of particles from an area of higher concentration to an
area of lower concentration of the particles or molecules, thus tending to equalize the concentration
throughout the area of diffusion. While osmosis is a special type of diffusion where the water molecules
move across the membrane down a concentration gradient from an area where the water molecules are more
concentrated to an area on the other side of the membrane where they are less concentrated (Hickman et
al., 2008).
Osmosis can be further expounded by the concept of hemolysis and crenation on human red blood
cells. Red blood cells possessing a solute concentration of 0.9% NaCl, are often used due to its low capacity
to adjust to changes in osmotic pressure. It is the hydrostatic pressure that must be applied to a solution to
keep it from gaining water if the solution were separated from pure water by a selectively permeable
membrane (Hickman et al., 2008).
Hemolysis is the breakage of red blood cell membrane causing to release of hemoglobin. While
crenation refers to cell shrinkage due to loss of water (Scott, 1993).
This exercise aimed to identify the different parts of the animal cell specifically the plasma
membrane and its mechanisms. Also, it intended to distinguish the difference between diffusion and
osmosis.
MATERIALS & METHODS
Human cheek cells were used to visually distinguish the structure of an animal cell. These were
obtained when the inside of ones cheek was gently scraped with a toothpick, then placed on the glass slide
and air dried for few seconds. To complete the slide, a drop of water and methylene blue were added before
the cover slip was placed on top. Under the low power objective, a couple of stained cells were observed.
Then, when shifted to the high power objective, a much closer look with an individual cell was seen.
To simply explain how the plasma membrane performed one of its functions, oil was mixed with
water. Equal proportion of oil and water were combined in a test tube and was shaken vigorously. After
shaking, the test tube was not agitated until the mixture has been settled.

Milk was used to observe the structure of the plasma membrane. Using a small beaker, a portion of
milk was heated on the hot plate. Once heated, the beaker was removed from the heat to cool down. It was
repeated thrice and observed the results for each trial.
The oil was poured in a petri dish until the bottom part was covered and a drop of egg albumin or
egg white was mixed with the oil. The formed thin membrane was pricked using a pointy object and noted
what happened.
In a petri dish filled with water, the movement of ink (methylene blue) when dropped in the water
was observed to explain the concept of diffusion.
A small part of the bottom shell of an egg was carefully broken leaving the thin membrane intact.
While on the top or rounded part of the same egg, a hole with the size of the thistle tube, was created with
both the shell and membrane removed. With the thistle tube clamped on the iron stand and inserted inside
the egg, it was positioned on the clay triangle which was then inside a 1000mL beaker. The connected
portion of the egg shell and the thistle tube was sealed by candle wax. Water was poured inside beaker until
the water line was on the rim of the sealed part of the egg.
Hemolysis and crenation of the red blood cells were demonstrated by the concept of osmosis. With
the use of prepared lancing device, the finger-pricked blood was drawn. The blood was dropped on each of
the three slides with different solutions. The first slide had the blood dropped in the distilled water, the next
one in 0.9% NaCl and the last had 10% NaCl solution.

RESULTS
Observing the slide of human cheek cells under 400x magnification, the plasma membrane,
cytoplasm and the nucleus were distinctively identified. The nucleus situated almost in the middle of each
cell, were easy to locate due to its highly stained appearance. With the visible, lighter stained, thin line
which enveloped the nucleus was undoubtedly the plasma membrane. Lastly, the cytoplasm appeared as
the space inside the plasma membrane.
Mixing oil with water depicted the basic structure of plasma membrane. Naturally, the oil did not
mix with water. Under the microscope, it showed that oil was indeed immiscible with water as bubble-like
emulsions looked similar to a semi-permeable membrane.
Heating the milk then cooling it down resulted to a thin solid mass covering the milks surface. As
this process was repeated, the same outcomes were observed.

As a drop of egg albumin (egg white) had been released into the portion of oil, together they did
not combine. Similar with oil and water, it resulted into a heterogeneous mixture. But when pricked with a
pointy object, the albumin did not ripped and somehow returned to its previous shape.
In the pool of water, the dropped methylene blue dispersed rapidly. The ink moved into the water
in such a way that the ink molecules were attracted to the water molecules.
After a few hours of exposing the prepared egg set-up under water, some of the volume inside the
egg went in the thistle tube and it read 3.81cm when measured.
The three slides of different solute concentration with added red blood cells were observed under
400x magnification. The first slide where blood was mixed with distilled water, the cells were hardly
recognized as squamous. The second slide with 0.9% NaCl had that normal appearance of closely packed
layer of cells having the biconcave shape. The last slide with 10% NaCl had cells loosely floating which
made it look like the cells were moving around. The layer of cells were disrupted and there was a lot of
uneven spaces between the cells.

DISCUSSION
The human cheeks cells used in this exercise showed the position of the parts of an animal cell
from the external to the internal environment. The plasma membrane is what separates the inside of the cell
from the environment. The cytoplasm is in between the nucleus and the plasma membrane and it constitutes
the rest of the cells contents, apart from the nucleus. The nucleus is the most prominent organelle in animal
cells. It contains the genetic information of the organism, stored in DNA molecules. (Alberts et al., 2010).
To explain the emulsions formed when oil was mixed with water, it was similar with the plasma
membrane having a phospholipid bilayer. Two layers of phospholipid molecules, one is oriented with their
water-soluble (hydrophilic) ends toward the outside, and the other one a fat-soluble portions (hydrophobic)
toward the inside of the membrane (Hickman et al., 2008).
Milk has a type of protein group called the whey proteins which are heat-sensitive, globular, water
soluble proteins and enzymes. When milk are subjected to heat treatment, depending on the conditions, its
whey proteins may undergo a structural change, commonly known as denaturation (Raikos, 2010). The thin
solid mass that covered the surface of the cooled milk was the protein which became denatured due to
heating. These proteins are similar with that found in plasma membrane. Glycoproteins (proteins with
carbohydrates attached) are essential components of plasma membranes. These proteins transport
substances such as charged ions across the membrane. They also act as specific receptors for various

molecules or as highly specific cell markers. Molecules of cholesterol are interspersed in the lipid portion
of the bilayer. They make the membrane even less permeable to water-soluble ions and molecules and
decrease membrane flexibility (Hickman et al., 2008).
An important characteristic of the phospholipid bilayer of the plasma membrane is that it is fluidlike, giving the membrane flexibility and allowing the phospholipid molecules to move sideways freely
within their own monolayer (Hickman et al., 2008). Shown by the egg albumin and oil, the plasma
membranes flexibility made the cells appear resilient with some solutes that cannot pass through across
the membrane.
Observation made with the ink movement in water can be explained by the concept of diffusion.
The ink molecules with high concentration when combined with water molecules that has lower
concentration will exhibit the same movement when substances enter cells. There is a net movement of
solute toward the inside when solute of higher concentration penetrates the side of the lower concentration.
The diffusion of ink in water was to equalize the concentrations on both sides.
The concept of osmosis was observed with the volume of the egg that went in the thistle tube. As
water enters the shell membrane of the egg, the osmotic pressure pushed the volume inside of the egg in to
the tube. Water diffuses from the region of greater concentration of water (pure water in the beaker) to the
region of lesser concentration (inside the egg) (Hickman et al., 2008).
Hemolysis and crenation can be used to determine the hypertonic, hypotonic and isotonic
concentrations of particular solutes (Strand, 1983). Hemolysis happened when the red blood cells placed

in a hypotonic solution rapidly bloat as the water molecules entered the cells by osmosis. Since
there was unequal concentrations on both sides, the tendency was to absorb more of the lesser
concentration, represented by the distilled water, until the cells bursted. Conversely, crenation
happened when red blood cells placed in a hypertonic solution rapidly shrank as the water
molecules were released through osmosis. Since there was still unequal concentrations on both
sides, the tendency was to release more to the higher concentration, represented by the 10% NaCl,
until the cells loss water and its biconcave shape. Further, a red blood cell placed into an isotonic
solution which was the 0.9% NaCl, the same concentration of red blood cells, neither bloat nor
shrink because the concentrations on both sides were in equilibrium (Scott, 1993).
The results obtained in this exercise on animal cell was conducted by a group of six PreVeterinary students having basic knowledge on cell structure and had minimal experience on
handling laboratory experiments. Since the work load were divided inside the group, human errors

such as improper handling of the reagents and/or procedures not accurately followed, were
possibly have affected the results minimally. Correspondingly, this exercise did not require such
precise use of certain reagents and observations yielded have in some way answered what was
required to comprehend about the subject matter.
REFERENCES
Alberts, B., Bray, D., Hopkin, K., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K., and Walter, P. 2010.
Essential Cell Biology, ed. 3. New York, NY: Garland Science Publishing
Hickman, C., Roberts, L., Keen, S., Larson, A., IAnson, H., Eisenhour, D. 2008. Integrated Principles of
Zoology, ed. 14. New York, NY: McGraw Hill
Raikos, Vassilios. 2010. Effect of heat treatment on milk protein functionality at emulsion interfaces: A
Review. Food Hydrocolloids. Volume 24: Pages 259-265
Scott, Linda A. 1993. Diffusion across a Sheep Red Blood Cell Membrane. Tested studies for Laboratory
Teaching. Volume 14: Pages 115-140
Strand, F. L. 1983. The Plasma Membrane as a Regulatory Organelle (Chapter 4). Physiology: A
Regulatory Systems Approach. Second edition: Pages 4967