Cell Theory

Spontaneous Generation
• The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) was one of the
earliest recorded scholars to articulate the theory of spontaneous
generation, the notion that life can arise from nonliving
matter.
• Jan Baptista van Helmont, a seventeenth century Flemish
scientist, proposed that mice could arise from rags and wheat
kernels left in an open container for 3 weeks. In reality, such
habitats provided ideal food sources and shelter for mouse
populations to flourish.
• However, one of van Helmont’s contemporaries, Italian
physician Francesco Redi (1626–1697), performed an
experiment in 1668 that was one of the first to refute the idea
that maggots (the larvae of flies) spontaneously generate on
meat left out in the open air.
• In 1745,John Needham(1713-1781)-published a report
of his own experiment, which he briefly broiled broth
infused with animal and plant matter and then sealed
-arguedthat microbes arose spontaneously in broth from
“life force”
• Lazzaro Spallanzi(1729-1799)-performed hundreds of
carefully executed experiments using heated broth and
sealed flasks.
-aimed to disprove Needham
• Louis Pasteur(1858)- refuted the long-disputed theory of
spontaneous generation.
 Pasteur’s set of experiments irrefutably disproved the theory of
spontaneous generation and earned him the prestigious Alhumbert Prize
from the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1862. In a subsequent lecture in 1864,
Pasteur articulated “Omne vivum ex vivo” (“Life only comes from life”). In
this lecture, Pasteur recounted his famous swan-neck flask experiment,
stating that “life is a germ and a germ is life. Never will the doctrine of
spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow of this simple
experiment.
 The discovery of cell

In the late 1600s, Dutch businessman Anton van Leeuwenhoek

became one of the first people to use a microscope to study nature. Using only
a single powerful lens, van Leeuwenhoek crafted instruments that could
produce magnified images of very small objects. His simple microscope
enabled him to see things no one had ever seen before. He was the first person
to see tiny living organisms in a drop of water.
In 1665, English physicist Robert Hooke used of the first light
microscopes to look at thin slices of plant tissues. One of these, a slice of cork,
especially caught his eye. Under the microscope, cork seemed to be made of
thousands of tiny chambers. Hooke called this chambers “cells” because they
reminded him of a monastery’s tiny rooms, whi
Over the next 200 years after Hooke, another scientist, a Scottish
botanist named Robert Brown, made a general conclusion in 1831. He
discovered the nucleus and theorized that this structure is a fundamental and
a constant component of the cell.
 In 1835, a French biologist, Felix Dujardin found out that living cells
contained an internal substance. Not knowing exactly what this substance
was, Dujardin gave it the name sarcode. It was a Bohemian physiologist, Jan
Evangelista Purkinje, who made a thorough investigation of this internal
material. He gave it the name protoplasm, a term coined for the colloidal
substance in the cell which is currently known as cytoplasm.
In 1838, Matthias Schleiden, a German botanist, stated that all plants
are composed of cells. After him, in 1839, Theodore Schwann, a German
zoologist, concluded that all animals are composed of cells. Jointly, Schleiden
and Schwann came out with the theory that all living things are composed of
cells. Twenty years later, in 1858, a German biologist, Rudolph Virchow,
theorized that all living cells come from pre-existing living cells. His
conclusion arose from observing dividing cells while he was at work.
 Cell Theory
• All living things are composed of one or
more cells and cell products.
• All living cells come from other living cells
by the process of cell division.
• Cells are the basic units of structure and
function on organism
Cell Structure and
Function
Cytoplasm- refers to the jelly-like
material with organelles in it.
If the organelles were removed,
the soluble part that would be left
is called the cytosol. It consists
mainly of water with dissolved
substances such as amino acids in
it.
• Cell Membrane- composed of
phospholipid layer which separates
cells from others.
Nucleus- The nucleus is the control center of the cell. It is
the largest organelle in the cell and it contains the DNA of
the cell. The DNA of all cells is made up of chromosomes.
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) contains all the information
for cells to live, perform their functions and reproduce. 
 Mitochondria -are membrane-enclosed
organelles distributed through the cytosol
of most eukaryotic cells. Their main
function is the conversion of the potential
energy of food molecules into ATP.
-the powerhouse of the cell
Mitochondria have:
an outer membrane that encloses the entire structure
•an inner membrane that encloses a fluid-filled matrix

•between the two is the intermembrane space

•the inner membrane is elaborately folded with shelflike cristae projecting

into the matrix.
Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)- It is a network of membranes
throughout the cytoplasm of the cell. There are two types of ER.
When ribosomes are attached it is called rough ER and smooth ER
when there are no ribosomes attached. 
The rough endoplasmic reticulum is where most protein synthesis
occurs in the cell. The function of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum is
to synthesize lipids in the cell. The smooth ER is also helps in the
detoxification of harmful substances in the cell.
Golgi complex- It is organelle in the
cell that is responsible for the

 
modification, sorting, packaging and
correctly shipping the proteins
produced in the ER. 

                                                        

                                   
Ribosomes- Organelles that help in the synthesis
of proteins. Ribosomes are made up of two parts,
called subunits. 
 Vesicles- This term literally means "small
                     

vessel". This organelle helps store and

transport products produced by the cell.
Lysosomes -function as the cell's
recycling compartment.
- also known as the digestive sac
The centrosome, also called the "microtubule organizing
center", is an area in the cell where microtubles are
produced.

Within an animal cell centrosome there is a pair of small

organelles, the centrioles, each made up of a ring of nine
groups of microtubules. There are three fused microtubules
in each group. They produce spindle fibers during cell
division.
Chloroplast- The cell organelle in which
photosynthesis takes place. In this organelle the
 
light energy of the sun is converted into chemical
                     

energy.
 Chloroplasts are found only in plant cells not
animal cells. Chloroplasts contain tiny pigments
called chlorophylls. Chlorophylls are responsible
for trapping the light energy from the sun.
          The
cell wall protects the cellular contents; gives rigidity
to the plant structure; provides a porous medium for the
circulation  and distribution of water, minerals, and other
small nutrient molecules; and contains specialized molecules
that regulate growth and protect  the plant from disease. A
structure of great tensile strength, the cell wall is formed from
fibrils of cellulose molecules.
         Vacuoles and vesicles are storage organelles in cells.
Vacuoles are larger than vesicles. Either structure may store
water, waste products, food, and other cellular materials. In plant
cells, the vacuole may take up most of the cell's volume.

The membrane surrounding the plant cell vacuole is called the

tonoplast.
• Peroxisome-membrane bound organelle
which produces hydrogen and peroxides
that metabolizes lipids.

• Cytoskeleton-filamentous or fiber-like
organelle that gives support and structure
in an animal cells.
Cilia- are thread-like projections of certain cells
that beat in a regular fashion to create currents
that sweep materials along;