SEVENTEEN FIGURES
Studies of living cellular structures by means of micro-dissection1 have hitherto been made principally on marine ova, protozoa, and the germ cells of certain plants and animals.
This paper records the results obtained from the microdissection of various epithelial tissues for the purpose of ascertaining, 1) the physical state of the living cells constituting the tissues and, 2) the nature of the connection, if any, between contiguous cells in a given tissue.
The tissues, in as fresh a state as possible, are placed on a cover-slip and rapidly teased in a drop of blood serum. The cover-slip is then inverted over a Barber moist chamber on the stage of the microscope. The dissecting needles are mounted in the dissection apparatus so as to project into the chamber with their tips curving up into the hanging drop containing the cells.
With some of the tissues it was not found necessary to use special precautions for maintaining viable conditions. The cells of the human epidermis, for example, react to dissection .
alike in blood serum, in Ringer's solution, and in water. Endodermal and mesodermal epithelia, on the other hand, are much less resistant, and the gland cells least of all. The 'Robert Chambers, 1922. New apparatus and methods for the dissection and injection of living cells.