TIGROID BODIES 



340 



TISSUE CULTURE 



surface. In case of difficulty in making 

 sections stick to slides try Haupt's 

 gelatine fixative (Stain Techn., 1930, 

 5, 97-98). After the sections have 

 been spread, arranged on the slide and 

 albumen (Webb, R. L., Am. J. Anat., 

 1931-32, 49, 283-334). 

 Tigroid Bodies (G. tigris, tiger and eidos, 

 appearance). A term applied to Nissl 

 bodies since they sometimes look 

 streaked and spotted like a tiger. See 

 Nissl Bodies. 

 Tissue Basophiles (tissue mast cells). 

 Some think that these cells are emi- 

 grated Basophile Leucocytes and others 

 that they are of extravascular origin. 

 They can easily be studied in fresh 

 spreads of Loose Connective Tissue or 

 omentum. Their granules are readily 

 colored supravi tally with brilliant cresyl 

 blue, methylene blue and other stains. 

 Tissue basophiles disintegrate quickly. 

 Maximow, A., Arch, f . mikr. Anat., 1913, 

 83 (1), 247^289 gives the following 

 metachromatic stain for mast cells. 

 Sections of abs. ale. fixed tissues are 

 stained 24-48 hrs. in sat. thionin in 50% 

 ale. Staining can be reduced to 20 min. 

 by adding 4 drops 3% Na2C03 to 20 cc. 

 thionin sol. and filtering before use. 

 Maximow gives technique for smears 

 and spreads fixed in formalin Zenker. 

 See his beautiful colored plates. See 

 Toluidine Blue Phloxinate. 



Holmgren and Wilander (H. and O., 

 Ztschr. f. mikr. Anat. Forsch., 1937, 

 42, 242-278) recommend fixation in 10% 

 aq. basic lead acetate and staining with 

 1% ale. Toluidin blue. They show 

 that fixation in formalin-alcohol gives 

 very inferior results. In their opinion 

 the metachromatic substance colored is 

 identical with Heparin. 



Sylvan, B., Acta Radiol., 1940, 21, 

 206-212 has followed this matter up by 

 subjecting rats and guinea pigs (in which 

 the basophilic granules are said to be 

 less soluble in water than in most other 

 animals) to Gamma rays. He fixed the 

 tissues in weaker aq. basic lead acetate 

 (4%) for 24 hrs., stained paraffin sec- 

 tions with 5% aq. toluidin blue and 

 other dyes, and reached the conclusion 

 that the radiation brings about liberation 

 of organic sulphuric acids of high molec- 

 ular weight. It would be natural to 

 investigate the relation if any between 

 heparin and the basophilic granules in 

 buffy coat of centrifuged human blood 

 containing say 0.5% basophiles and in 

 that of certain turtles in which the per- 

 centage is as high as 80 as well as in 

 livers. 



Another method of study is to investi- 

 gate heparin in relation to the charac- 

 teristic dissolution of basophiles 2 days 



after the intraperitoneal injection of egg 

 albumen (Webb, R. U., Am. J. Anab., 

 1931-32,49,283-334). 

 Tissue Culture— Written by Wilton R. 

 Earle, National Cancer Institute, Be- 

 thesda. July 10, 1951 — This technique is 

 obviously of great value in biology and 

 medicine. For orientation reference 

 should be made to two recent books: 

 Parker, R. C, Methods of Tissue Cul- 

 ture, 2nd. ed., New York: Hoeber, 

 1950, Cameron, Gladys, Tissue Culture 

 Technique, New York: Academic Press, 

 1950. At present (March 1951) the 

 Tissue Culture Association (% Dr. Mar- 

 garet Murray, College Physicians & 

 Surgeons, W. 168 St., New York) has 

 nearly ready for publication an elab- 

 orately cross indexed bibliography 

 containing over 16,000 primary refer- 

 ences to papers involving tissue culture. 

 This association also serves as a coor- 

 dinating organization for tissue culture 

 workers. 



By the methods of tissue culture a 

 small clump of cells can be removed 

 from an organism and maintained in a 

 condition of survival or growth for 

 periods ranging from a few hours for 

 some cells to an indefinite number of 

 years for the descendants of others. 

 While so maintained they can be exam- 

 ined microscopically at various mag- 

 nifications. The differentiation of em- 

 bryonic organs can be followed (see 

 account in this book written by Honor 

 B . Fell : Organ Culture in vitro) . Malig- 

 nant cells may be grown and studied for 

 an extended interval and their charac- 

 teristics compared with those of nor- 

 mal cells or with malignant cells in 

 vivo (Lewis, W. H., Arch. f. Exp. 

 Zellf., 1939, 23, 8; Earle, W. R., J. 

 Nat. Cancer Inst., 1943, 4, 165). Cell 

 form, size, internal motion, locomotion 

 and rate and manner of cell prolifera- 

 tion can be routinely studied either 

 visually, or by means of phase inter- 

 ference photography, or by time-lapse 

 cinematography (Fell, H. B., and 

 Hughes, A. F., Quart. J. Micr. Sci., 

 1949, 90, 355). The tissue can be 

 vitally stained (Ludford, R. J., Uth 

 Scientific Report, Imper. Cancer Re- 

 search Fund, 1934, 169) or fixed in situ, 

 and stained for microscopic examina- 

 tion, (Cameron, above cited), for micro- 

 chemical test, or for electron microg- 

 raphy. Physiological and nutritional 

 studies are possible. The culture me- 

 dium can be modified by the addition 

 or omission of various nutritional ele- 

 ments or other physiologically active 

 substances (Pogogeff, I. A., and Mur- 

 ray, M. R., Anat. Rec, 1946, 95, 321), 

 and the influence of the altered medium 



