Cell Cycle and Virtual lab report
I. Problem
What difference does a normal tissue have from a cancerous tissue.
II. Backround
Cancer is a disease that affects millions of lives daily. Scientists are looking for ways to put an end to the disease without harming the human. Cancer is a disease in which a cell continues to divides uncontrollably. As they continue to divide without any means to stop they begin to overcrowd and pile up on top of each other. Based on research done in 2007 160,390 people died from lung cancer, 15,280 people died from ovarian cancer, 11,210 people died from stomach. In total out of just these three cancers 186,880 people had died from these cancers. This is not even including some of the other cancers out there. This is why scientists are trying to find a cure for cancer.
III. Hypothesis
I believe that the best way to tell if a cell is a cancerous cell is to look at the time that cancerous cells spend dividing an staying at rest. I believe that by noticing the cells dividing and the cells at rest you would tell that cancer cells spend almost all their time dividing rather than at rest, compared to normal cells. If I am correct it will be measured by amount of time that cancerous cells spend dividing.
IV. Materials
- Pencil
- Paper
- Knife (for dissecting the tissue)
- Safety Goggles
- Gloves
- Cancerous cell and normal cell(of an ovary, lung and stomach tissue.)
- Microscope with slides
- Clipboard
V. Procedures
- Gather your pencil, paper, and clipboard.
- Put on your gloves and your safety goggles.
- Get your normal and cancerous cell tissue. Cut off a piece of the ovary tissue, lung tissue, and stomach tissue so that you can see the inside.
- Put the piece of whatever cell you want to see under the microscope. Then examine it under the microscope.
- Take notes or draw what you see.
- You will then do the same procedure that you had done in steps four and five except instead of the cells being normal. They will be cancerous.
- Compare both of your drawings.
VI. Data
Below will be the data table for the number of cells that are dividing, at rest, which phase they’re in and the different type of tissue.
Below is the graph that was made from the table that is displayed up above.
VII. Journal Questions
1. Based on what I have seen, the difference between the two is that normal cells spend a majority of their time in interphase. Whereas cancerous cells spend less time in Interphase and went straight to cell division.
2. I think that the miotic index is the time spent in Interphase. I believe that Normal cells spend an 9.5:10 in interphase. While Cancerous cells spend a 7:10 amount of time interphase.
3. I believe that muscles would have the highest miotic index. I come to this conclusion because with muscles, as you build them up, they divide. Mitosis is a part of the cell cycle in which the cell divides. Therefore, I believe that muscles have the highest miotic index since they are constantly dividing.
2. I think that the miotic index is the time spent in Interphase. I believe that Normal cells spend an 9.5:10 in interphase. While Cancerous cells spend a 7:10 amount of time interphase.
3. I believe that muscles would have the highest miotic index. I come to this conclusion because with muscles, as you build them up, they divide. Mitosis is a part of the cell cycle in which the cell divides. Therefore, I believe that muscles have the highest miotic index since they are constantly dividing.
VIII. Conclusion
After conducting my experiment it appears that my hypothesis may have been correct. I believed that the way to distinguish a normal cell from a cancerous cell was to look at the amount of time that they both spent dividing, and at rest. I noticed that for cancerous cells the percentage of them dividing was relatively high, the lowest was 95% and the highest was 100%. While normal cells, were high they were not completely high in dividing. The lowest for normal cells was 90% and the highest was 95%. However for cells at rest, the lowest percentage for cancerous cells was 0% and the highest was 5%. For normal cells the lowest was 10% and the highest was 15%. This shows that normal cells spent more time at rest than cancerous cells, and cancerous cells spent more time dividing than normal cells. An experimental error could have been that the cell was damaged. However it appears that my hypothesis was indeed correct.