The human cell and the cytologist

this leader the volume voice are of the same intensity and quality as the soundtrack which [Music] [Applause] [Music] follows [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] hi beny M dayve looking for something just picked up some slides at the delivery desk for you they're on your table it's nice of you thanks cytology the science of [Music] cells the science of cells those minute living parts of which we are all made how many cells in the body of Betty Robins 10 million a billion 100 billion even and more [Music] trillions what can they tell us these fixed brightly stained particles that were only a few hours ago living cells in a living body to the knowing eye they tell a story a story of [Music] health and what meaning is there in these distorted cells to The Knowing eye they signify disease so many answers these n cells hold for us so many questions they raise and that of disease is only one of the questions working quietly in our research centers are the scientists who are slowly carefully sorting out the unanswered questions one studies the behavior of the Primitive one-celled [Music] animal another man watches as one cell becomes two using photography to speed up the growth hundreds of [Music] times edges wave in response to what [Applause] stimulus another studies cells from the retina of the human eye kept alive and growing outside the box why what is the cause how do they differ from the normal how can we stop them for each question a 100 eyes peering down the barrels of 100 microscopes watching searching prying into the mysteries of the cell here is a human cell the fundamental unit of all life the dark spot is the nucleus and surrounding it the complex substance called cytoplasm the thin outer membrane allows food fluids and waste to pass in and out in the one celled animal the Single Cell performs all the functions necessary for life it moves it takes in food digests it and eliminates it it has a rudimentary sense that allows it to find food or withdraw from danger it reproduces by division efficient but simple in the highly organized trillion celled human body however cells have many specialized functions and often specialized shapes to accomplish the function the long muscle cell has the power to contract and relax a nerve cell in a finger pricked by a needle flashing es its warning message along a special fiber at the speed of a bullet the monoy floating in the bloodstream can change its shape squeeze through narrow spaces to devour bacteria and other harmful substances cells in the glands manufacture substances that regulate a person's growth digest his food prepare his body to do battle goblet cells of the mucus membrane manufacture fluids for instance to protect the delicate air passages leading to the lungs other cells are equipped with hair like cyia that constantly work to brush out dust breathed in with the air the whole a trillion celled mechanism wonderful and incredible and how do cells grow that too we know something about consider for instance the cells lining a bronchial tube leading to a lung it is the cells down at the deeper levels that have the ability to divide and become two cells this orderly division occurs only as new cells are needed the cells of the surface layer finally are dislodged and the lower cells shift up to fill the gap G we call this dislodging exfoliation after the cells exfoliate they are carried away in the mucus by the cyia and down where growth occurs a cell divides to make another cell which in its turn will grow to the surface and perform its function for years the millions of cells lining the bronchial tubes and cells in other parts of the body grow in this regular pattern and then for reasons that we do not yet understand this pattern of cell growth changes in some people cell division becomes rapid chaotic growing out of normal bounds these disorganized cells fail to perform the function of normal cells this is cancer one of the dangers in cancer is metastasis in which cells from the first diseased area may find their way to other parts of the body the two most frequent Pathways by which cancer can spread are the blood vessels and the lymphatic system malignant cells may actually enter either of these channels and be carried along in the fluid they Lodge in some other place or even a number of places in the body wherever one of these unruly cells can get a foothold the cancer can start in a new location as we have not yet learned how to check this growth our defense is to discover it before it grows out of bounds how to do this therein lies the rest of our story the cancer cells at the surface exfoliate just as normal cells do one of the ways of discovering whether there is cancer is to take a sample of fluid in which cells are found and look for abnormal cells under a microscope the Pioneer in this method of detecting cancer is another one of our leading American scientists who is working on some of the unanswered questions Dr Papa nicholo it's a little more than 10 years ago that he and his associates introduced the new technique to the medical profession today this search for cancer cells is a standard laboratory procedure and this is the person who searches a cytotechnologist hi Dave come take a look what is it from the cervix no it's Broncho see those cells with the large nuclei uh-huh cancer certainly looks like it to me I'll be surprised if Dr Baker doesn't think so too here's another one this one's from the [Applause] cervix so many different shapes to recognize normal normal and this abnormal and on another slide among the normal cell a dark Clump abnormal it's a challenging job that the cyot technologist has a challenge to the skill of the eye and to an understanding of different kinds of cells the problem is so great because the shapes of cells in different parts of the body are so varied it's not only cells of the bronchial tubes and of the cervix that the cytotechnologist must be able to identify there are a number of other places in the body where fluids containing exfoliated cells can be taken for examination among other places specimens can be taken from the lungs the stomach the bladder the body cavities the breast examination of material from the female reproductive organs however has been the most useful by far for one thing it is one of the location in which cancer most frequently has its Beginnings for another a specimen can be taken easily which is not true of many of the other areas well no it isn't Mrs Morris you seem to be in fine shape this is just a cell Examination for cancer something I like to do is part of a periodic Health Examination for women of your age just a precaution that's right we'll get a report from the pathologist and on this and the other laboratory exam minations and we'll make an appointment to see you towards the end of the week one woman one examination and what if we could process thousands tens of thousands of slides large scale experiments have shown that perhaps as many as five out of every thousand examinations will expose an unsuspected cancer of the cervix each year doctors over the country request the this Examination for more and more persons more cytotechnologists Edna moris the slides are recorded and identified Betty will process many dozens even hundreds of slides before finding one doubtful one but that one slide is more than just a number on a chart it represents a person's life that may be in danger before the cells on these slides can be studied under the microscope they must be stained in order to define the various parts more clearly when Betty receives the slides they have been fixed and dehydrated in a solution of alcohol and ether to accept the stain their water content must be restored by a short series of baths and rins they are then ready for the first diey a purplish chemical called hematoxylin this stains only the nuclei after the first die more rinses then into an orange dye that stains the cytoplasm of certain kinds of cells other kinds of cells take up the greenish Dy at the end the rest of the jars are for rinsing the slides between dyes the process isn't particularly complicated it just has to be done in the right order and with precise timing so the cells won't take up too little or too much stain after staining a drop of M mounting fluid is put on each slide and a coverglass put over the cells good morning morning Dr Baker are you processing slides for Dr wex today uh yes there are two requests that came through this morning may I see it please the pathologist this is the man who directs the cytotechnologists work the doctor in charge of the laboratory will getting these out this afternoon yes I will [Applause] good hey don't you know what time it is what time it's time for coffee come on okay I'll be right with you this world in which the cyot technologist Works isn't a small world all by itself usually it's part of a larger laboratory where the shop talk is shared with other laboratory people medical technologists they're called have you seen Alice since she got back yes she looks wonderful doesn't she here she had a great time excuse me Helen you have an emergency blood count in 2011 okay I'll be right there sometimes the laboratory is in a hospital sometimes the private office of a pathologist often in smaller Laboratories the cyot technologist will do other things such as Helen's work in blood analysis good morning good morning you're Mr Elliot are you yes I am Dr Miller has asked us to take a little blood pror [Music] test now I'm just going to prick your finger another one of the laboratory activities that a cytotechnologist may share is that of making tissue sections of a biopsy this is another way that the pathologist examines cells a small piece issue that the doctor wants to have examined is removed from a patient it is embedded in a cube of paraffin so that it can be put in this machine and sliced into extremely thin sections The Fragile wisps of tissue are floated in a bath of warm water which flattens them out so that one can be caught on a slide like exfoliated cells these are stained so they can be studied say Dave do you have the tissue sections from a gertude Willoughby yet Willoughby yeah that was one I did yesterday do you have the pathologist report I was pretty sure there were cancer cells in the slide we had from her and I'm curious to see if I was right cancer you were right can I take a look at it here are normal cells and next to them cancer cells in a tissue section can give even more information than exfoliated cells so whenever a possible cancer is found in a slide prepared by a cytotechnologist a section of tissue is taken from the patient to make sure of the diagnosis though Betty Robin specializes in cytotechnology there are still other jobs that a cytotechnologist may do besides blood analysis and work with tissue sections it will depend on the laboratory and on the person's training can found can them classes in cytotechnology are held in qualified hospitals normal variant first of all there are several sites from which exfoliated cells can come some of these sites include the trachea the peripheral bronchi and the Alvi can you suggest any other places from which these exfoliated cells could come the mouth Yes snow sure uh the esophagus a person may train for medical technology or cyot technology or both in any case this is work for those who are interested in science and have gotten a good scientific background at college for people like Betty who have learned the fascination of the world of science this is a satisfying [Music] occupation Helen time normal Oscar du fo normal DL Richardson normal Edna [Music] moris Edam [Music] moris abnormal here today's slides doctor good Ed the MOs H one of dery's patients these are hers right here I've checked the ones I thought were ABN normal all right let's have a look you were right they are abnormal I would say almost certain cancer is there anything else doctor no thanks I'll get a report the [Music] [Applause] dery another day perhaps another life saved Edna Morris whoever you are Dr Baker on the phone hello Al Edam morrris really it just wasn't a sign of anything from the appearance of the cells I'd say there's a good possibility you've turned up an early case here well that's something all right many thanks for the call we'll get a biopsy right away to confirm [Music] it now do you understand I want to make that absolutely clear though it is cancer we' caught it it at the beginning you're sure you're one of the fortunate ones Mrs Morris at this stage we can be reasonably sure that we can cure it [Music] completely ready to go all have a good day today mhm good [Music] day [Music] a