12
E . N . W I L L M E R
to the world in general for very obvious and practical medical reasons,
but also indirectly to tissue culturists working on other problems and
particularly those of a biochemical nature; others have also benefited
indirectly because of the facilities and apparatus which have become
available as the result of this popular demand greatly easing the rather
tiresome technical problems which used to face the solitary worker in
the field of Tissue Culture.
In connexion with the present flourishing condition of the virusgrowing industry, it is perhaps salutary to remember that the culture of
poliomyelitis virus was first attempted in monkey's nerve cells in vitro
by Levaditi in 1913.
In this brief and semi-historical introductory review of Tissue
Culture, the intention has been to provide a background against which
the main contents of the book can be seen, to show something of the
way in which the subject has evolved and to indicate how, on the one
hand, some advances have awaited technical discoveries in other fields,
while, on the other, the Tissue-Culture advance has sometimes led to
an upsurge of activity elsewhere. As recent examples of the former, the
application of the phase-contrast microscope, particularly combined
with cinematography (see Pomerat, 1961), has greatly increased our
understanding of such matters as the behaviour of the cell surface, of
pinocytosis, chromosomal activity and mitosis, and it has helped in the
identification of cells by their movement. The electron-microscope has
made many similar contributions, among the most notable of which
are perhaps the manner by which collagen fibres are formed at or near the
surface of the fibroblastic cell (Vol. 3, Chapter l),the relationship between
pinocytotic vacuoles and the endoplasmic reticulum, or the manner in
which striations develop within the cytoplasm of muscle fibres (Vol.2,
Chapter 8). Chromatography and the more recent methods of microanalysis have greatly assisted all studies of cell metabolism in culture.
O n the other side of the coin, Tissue-Culture techniques have recently
caused enormous advances in virology (see Vol. 3) and in matters
relating to the genetical constitution of cells and to chromosomal
variations in relation to human abnormalities and diseases (Chapter 12).
This last advance owes its origin to the observation that treatment of a
dividing cell with a hypotonic solution disperses the chromosomes
throughout the cytoplasm instead of allowing them to accumulate upon
the metaphase plate (Lewis, M . R., 1934).
As will be all too evident throughout this book, cells and tissues in
culture differ in many ways, from the experimental point of view, from
those in the body. This is nowhere more evident than in the study of the
hormones. In the body, a hormone may act at and for a particular
time, in a particular place and in a particular form and concentration.
E . N . W I L L M E R
to the world in general for very obvious and practical medical reasons,
but also indirectly to tissue culturists working on other problems and
particularly those of a biochemical nature; others have also benefited
indirectly because of the facilities and apparatus which have become
available as the result of this popular demand greatly easing the rather
tiresome technical problems which used to face the solitary worker in
the field of Tissue Culture.
In connexion with the present flourishing condition of the virusgrowing industry, it is perhaps salutary to remember that the culture of
poliomyelitis virus was first attempted in monkey's nerve cells in vitro
by Levaditi in 1913.
In this brief and semi-historical introductory review of Tissue
Culture, the intention has been to provide a background against which
the main contents of the book can be seen, to show something of the
way in which the subject has evolved and to indicate how, on the one
hand, some advances have awaited technical discoveries in other fields,
while, on the other, the Tissue-Culture advance has sometimes led to
an upsurge of activity elsewhere. As recent examples of the former, the
application of the phase-contrast microscope, particularly combined
with cinematography (see Pomerat, 1961), has greatly increased our
understanding of such matters as the behaviour of the cell surface, of
pinocytosis, chromosomal activity and mitosis, and it has helped in the
identification of cells by their movement. The electron-microscope has
made many similar contributions, among the most notable of which
are perhaps the manner by which collagen fibres are formed at or near the
surface of the fibroblastic cell (Vol. 3, Chapter l),the relationship between
pinocytotic vacuoles and the endoplasmic reticulum, or the manner in
which striations develop within the cytoplasm of muscle fibres (Vol.2,
Chapter 8). Chromatography and the more recent methods of microanalysis have greatly assisted all studies of cell metabolism in culture.
O n the other side of the coin, Tissue-Culture techniques have recently
caused enormous advances in virology (see Vol. 3) and in matters
relating to the genetical constitution of cells and to chromosomal
variations in relation to human abnormalities and diseases (Chapter 12).
This last advance owes its origin to the observation that treatment of a
dividing cell with a hypotonic solution disperses the chromosomes
throughout the cytoplasm instead of allowing them to accumulate upon
the metaphase plate (Lewis, M . R., 1934).
As will be all too evident throughout this book, cells and tissues in
culture differ in many ways, from the experimental point of view, from
those in the body. This is nowhere more evident than in the study of the
hormones. In the body, a hormone may act at and for a particular
time, in a particular place and in a particular form and concentration.