Tomato Cells under Microscope

To see tomato cells under microscope, simply squeeze a bit of tomato juice on a clean glass slide and gently place a cover slip over it.

Micrographs

Below is the micrograph of the tomato cells:

Tomato cells are floating in the juice and hence are not connected to each other. The thick black circles are air bubbles that got trapped between slide and cover slip. I was not able to get rid of them after couple of tries.

Tomato cells are very big compared to onion skin cells. In fact, they are more than 25 times bigger than onion skin cells! Below is the micrograph of onion skin cells for comparison:

Onion Cells under Microscope

In this post, I will show how to make a wet mount slide for looking onion cells under a microscope.

Making the slide

1. Take a clean slide and place a drop of water in the centre
2. Take a small piece of onion and carefully peel the translucent membrane from the rough underside
   of the slide. To peel the membrane, you can either use a sharp blade or a pair of tweezers. It is important to do this step carefully so as to not break too many cells. So, ideally always hold the peeled membrane at the edges.
3. Now carefully, place the membrane in the drop of water placed earlier on the slide.
4. You may want to put a small drop of tincture iodine over the onion membrane. This is to help create contrast between cell nuclei and other parts of cells.
5. Finally, gently lower a cover slip over the membrane.

Micrographs

Below are the micrographs of the onion cells. The nuclei are the small dark circles and the thick black lines are the cell walls.

Dog Cardiac Muscle l.s. Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

Dog cardiac muscle longitudinal section (l.s.) is the 9th slide in the Amscope 50PC prepared slides. A cardiac muscle is found only in heart. These muscles are involuntary i.e. they contract and expand automatically to keep heart pumping. I am not 100% sure but most likely the cark blue dots in the micrographs are the nuclei.

Micrographs [19 July 2015]

Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

This post lists all the micrographs I have done from the Amscope 50PC prepared slides.

Dense Connective Tissue section Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

Dense connective tissue (section) is the 8th slide in the Amscope 50PC prepared slides. Dense connective tissue have densely packed fibers made up of mainly collagen (while lines in the micrograph below). The fibers in these tissues are regularly arranged and they are very strong but inelastic. Due to their in-elasticity, they can break if a strong force is applied across the fibers. Dense connective tissues forms the ligaments (connects muscles to bones) and tendons (connects bones to bones) in our body.

Micrographs [19 July 2015]

Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

This post lists all the micrographs I have done from the Amscope 50PC prepared slides.

Dandelion Fuzz w.m. – Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

Dandelion Fuzz whole mount (w.m.) is the 7th slide in the Amscope 50PC prepared slides. Dandelion is a yellow colored flower native to Eurasia and North America [Wikipedia]. What appears to be a single dandelion flower is actually made up of a large number of small flowers called florets! After removing the yellow petals from all florets, we are left with dandelion fuzz also known as seed head. The micrographs below show a single seed from the seed head.

Micrographs [19 July 2015]

Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

This post lists all the micrographs I have done from the Amscope 50PC prepared slides.

Cucurbita Stem l.s. – Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

Cucurbita stem lateral section (l.s.) is the 6th slide in the Amscope 50PC prepared slides. Cucurbita (Latin for gourd) is popularly known as squash, pumpkin, or gourd depending on species, variety, and local parlance.

Micrographs [24 May 2015]

Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

This post lists all the micrographs I have done from the Amscope 50PC prepared slides.

Zea Stem l.s. – Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

Zea stem lateral section (l.s.) is the 50th slide in the Amscope 50PC prepared slides. Zea is a genus of true grasses in the family Poaceae of which corn is a member.

Micrographs [07 June 2014]

Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

This post lists all the micrographs I have done from the Amscope 50PC prepared slides.

Zea Stem c.s. – Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

Zea stem cross section is the 49th slide in the Amscope 50PC prepared slides. Zea is a genus of true grasses in the family Poaceae of which corn is a member.

Micrographs [07 June 2014]

Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

This post lists all the micrographs I have done from the Amscope 50PC prepared slides.

Coprinus Mushroom Set – Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

Cross-section of Coprinus mushroom set is the fourth slide in the Amscope 50PC prepared slides. The Coprinus is a small genus of mushrooms consisting of Coprinus comatus (the shaggy mane) and several of its close relatives [1].

Micrographs

The circular ring in the center is the stem of the mushroom. The center white circle suggests that the stem is hollow from inside. The lines from the stem to the edge forms the cap of the mushroom.

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprinus

Amscope 50PC Prepared Slides

This post lists all the micrographs I have done from the Amscope 50PC prepared slides.