LESSON 1

CELL THEORY

Let's Learn
Prior to the invention of the very first microscope,
everything that could not be seen by the naked eye was
unexplainable. In 1665, Robert Hooke was able to
observe in a piece of cork specimen structures that
appear as tiny compartments similar to small rooms that
are fitted to each other (Figure 1.1). Hooke coined the
word “cell” to describe these chamber-like structures.
Hooke thought that only plants and fungi were made up
of cells. It wasn’t until 1676 that Anton van
Leeuwenhoek published his observations on tiny living
organisms which he named animalcules. It was
Figure 1.1. Drawing of the structure of cork
believed that Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe
as seen by Robert Hook using his microscope.
under a microscope the structure of red blood cells of
different animals as well as a sperm cell.
In 1831, Robert Brown, one of the leading botanists of his
time, was able to compare different kinds of specimens under the
microscope. He indicated that there is one common thing about
them – they are all compose of cells. Inside each cell is a dark
dense spot which he termed the “nucleus”. A few years later,
German botanist Matthias Schleiden (1838) concluded that all
plant parts are made of cells. Theodor Schwann (1839), also a
botanist and a close friend of Schleiden, stated that all animal
tissues are composed of cells too. ln 1858, Rudolf Virchow
concluded that all cells come from pre-existing cells.
The discoveries made by Hooke, Leeuwenhoek,
Schleiden, Schwann, Virchow, and others led to the formulation
of the cell theory. The cell theory is universal for all living things,
no matter how simple or complex, or tiny or huge it is. This theory
can be summed up into three basic components: (1) all living
organisms are composed of one or more cells; (2) the cell is the
basic unit of life in all living things; and (3) all cells come from pre- Figure 1.2. Virchow’s Cell
existing cells. Theory
 The three postulates of the cell theory offer a basis on how an object is considered a living thing. All
living things are fundamentally made up of cells; there is no exception no matter how simple or complex
an organism is, what kind of environment it is exposed to, or what course of evolution it has gone through.
An organism can be unicellular (one-celled) or multicellular. A single-celled organism can perform all the
essential functions that enable it to grow, survive and reproduce. Multicellular organisms are more
complex in structure and function, but the mechanism on how they are able to live is still the same as with
simple life forms’. Strongly related to this is the second postulate that states that the cell is the basic unit of
life. The cell operates similarly to a complete machine that has many compartments that perform different
but interrelated and interconnected functions. The cell is a completely functional entity that possesses
characteristics that distinguish it from inanimate objects. Finally, all cells come from pre-existing cells,
which signifies that cells cannot be spontaneously created but will always be a product of reproduction
from a pre-existing cell (Mazzarello 1999).