how do you tell if a cell is dead or alive.

nestle103 · Post by **nestle103** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 6:37 am

is a cell dead if it has a nucleus

nestle103 · Post by **nestle103** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 6:41 am

how do you tell if a cell is dead or alive. The cell that i am trying to see if it is alive or not is a wheat germ cell.

trexzert · Post by **trexzert** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:15 am

It is really hard to tell if a cell is dead or alive without high powered microscope. Now on your project, I don't know if extracting DNA from a cell will kill it but I do know that if DNA from the cell is damaged, the cell may or may not survive.

trexzert · Post by **trexzert** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:17 am

No, a cell is not dead if it has a nucleus. Many plant and animal cells must have a nucleus to function properly. Other cells like bacteria do not have a nucleus at all but can still survive.

deleted-71703 · Post by **deleted-71703** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:32 am

Hi Nestle103,
Normally, when a cell dies, the outside morphology changes, in other words, the cell looks different. For example, if you are growing cells that attach to a plate, when they die they are not able to attach to the bottom of the plate anymore, and they will appear floating in the medium. I am not sure of what kind of cells you are studying; if you told us it would help as to suggest ways of distinguish between live/dead cells.
Carmen

donnahardy2 · Post by **donnahardy2** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 3:33 pm

Hi Nestle103,

I think all of us are wondering what your project topic is. What kind of cells will you be working with? If you are studying animal cells, you might be able to use a vital stain such as methylene blue that will stain live cells. Here is a website that has information on vital stains that can be used with protozoa.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... vital.html

Donna Hardy