I. Purpose
The purpose of this lab is to find the similarities and differences between cancer cells and normal cells.
II. Background
The significance of finding the difference in cell's is that cancer cells keep dividing and normal cells stop dividing and die.
III. Hypothesis
I believe that if the cells keep dividing you get cancer, and if they continue to stop dividing and die at a point they are normal.
IV. Materials
- Cancerous Ovary Tissues
- Normal Ovary Tissue
- Cancerous Lung Tissue
- Normal Lung Tissue
- Cancerous Stomach Tissue
- Normal Stomach Tissue
- Microscopes
V. Procedure
- First, click the monitor to watch the video about the cell cycle.
- Second step, click the information button to learn about cancer.
- After, click on the microscope to begin learning about the phases of mitosis.
- Then, click and drag the label to the corresponding cell under the microscope.
- Open the data table and begin to record the number of cells in each phase of mitosis in the tissue sample. You can use the calculator to determine the percentage of cells dividing and the percentage of cells at rest. When you have counted all the cells in a particular sample, click the "Tissue Slide" and select a new sample. You can chose from normal or cancerous tissue.
- Open the journal to answer some questions about cell division and cancer.
VI. Data
VII. Journal Questions
- Based on your data and observations, what are some of the differences between normal cells and cancer cells? A) Cancer cells divide quicker than normal cells. Also, cancer cells do not rest as much as normal cells.
- When studying cell division in tissue samples, scientists often calculate a mitotic index, which is the ratio of dividing cells to the total number of cells in the sample. Which type of tissue would have a higher mitotic index, normal tissue or cancerous tissue? Explain. A) A concourse tissue would have a higher mitotic index due to the fact that genetics is sped up in the process which makes the cells divide faster.
- Different types of normal tissues in the human body have different mitotic indices. From the following list, which normal tissues would you expect to have the highest mitotic index: muscle, skin, kidney, or lung? Explain your answer. A) I think that skin would, because skin is always growing and protecting so new cells have to from faster to create new ones in order to protect.
VIII. Conclusion
To conclude