Department of Zoology
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

ZOOL 409, Lab Week 4

Lab notes offer a preview of upcoming labs and links to more information about tissues examined during lab.

• Week 4 lecture notes
• SYLLABUS (including links to all note pages)
• 409 Homepage (index of course resources)
• Dr. King's School of Medicine histology page
• Slide summary

TUESDAY Objective:  Recognize the common cellular and extracellular components of skeletal tissue.

Examine the following slides:

Cartilage:  04, 06, 85 (cartilage in trachea); 17 (elastic cartilage of unspecified source, probably external ear).

Bone:  13, 14, 18, 19, 80.

Slide 80 shows "ground bone", with no cells or other organic material.  The word "ground" in the label is past-tense of "grind"; this specimen has been prepared by grinding a thin sliver of mineralized bone after removal of organic material.

On this slide, notice the lacunae, the canaliculae, the Haversian canals, the lamellae, and especially the arrangement of lamellae.  Note that most lamellae are concentric around Haversian canals, but some lamellae appear fragmentary.

Slides 13, 14, 18, and 19 all show specimens of decalcified bone, sectioned and stained with H&E to reveal the tissue elements (as in most other histological preps). 

These specimens are rather complex.  You need to distinguish bone itself from other tissues present on the slide.  Tendon and/or skeletal muscle may be attached on the outside surface of the bone.  Bone marrow is a variety of connective tissue consisting mostly of cells, in this case fat and "hemopoietic
cells" (the cells which give rise to all the mobile connective tissue cells, the red and white blood cells).

Try to find osteocytes, osteoclasts, and osteoblasts (the latter two may only be common in slide 13).

THURSDAY Objective:  

• Recognize three types of muscle tissue. 
   
  Notice the distinguishing characteristics of each muscle fiber type.
   
  Also notice the tissue context (i.e., where muscle occurs in relation to other tissues), including the cells (such as muscle satellite cells, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells) which may occur in close association with striated muscle fibers.
   

• Compare muscle types on slide 24.  (You might also look at the motor innervation of striated muscle on slide 79.)
   
• Look for striated, skeletal muscle in the following slides.:
  • tongue -- slides 46.  (Skeletal muscle comprises the bulk of the organ.)
  • soft palate:  12
  • esophagus -- slides 06, 07, 85.  (Skeletal muscle is only present in some specimens of upper esophagus.)
  • bone:  14, 18, 19.  (Muscle may not be included in all specimens.)
     
• Look for smooth muscle in the following slides.  Note that in the gut, most clearly in the small intestine, smooth muscle occurs in two layers with distinctly different orientation of the fibers (i.e., "circular", wrapping around the organ, and "longitudinal", approximately paralleling the long axis of the organ).
  • esophagus -- slides 06, 07, 85.  (Some specimens may show skeletal muscle.)
  • intestine -- slides 03, 05, 37, 47, 61, 70. 
  • colon -- slides 09, 38, 48. 
  • stomach -- slides 40, 41, 50, 68. 
  • vagina -- slide 56. 
  • bladder -- slide 08. 
  • ureter -- slide 94.
       
    
• Look for cardiac muscle in the heart, slides 93, 34.

 

Complete slide list:
01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100

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