Loyola University Chicago

General Biology Lab

3 - Microscopy and Cellular Diversity

This exercise introduced the different types of microscopes used in our laboratory to study cells and cellular structure. You should know the parts of these microscopes and their functions, and the procedures for preparing wet mounts, focusing and viewing specimens, and proper care and storage of microscopes.

You
examined a variety of cell types, ranging from prokaryotic cells (cyanobacteria and bacteria) to eukaryotic cells (plant cells and animal cells). You should be able to recognize each of these cell types as well as any subcellular structures visible with the light microscopes. In addition you should be able to name bacterial types and identify Oscillatoria, Anabaena, and Gloeocapsa. You will be expected to be able to estimate the size of a cell or organism as seen through the microscope.

Review the images on this page to test your knowledge. Concentrate on those structures in bold face type and those that you were asked to label on your diagrams.

To access these images in PowerPoint format, click here.

elodea onion human-epidermal
coccus1000x bacillus1000x spirillum1000x
anabaena oscillatoria gloeocapsa