Inside the Living Cell

Journey Into the Living Cell
Produced by the Buhl Planetarium
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Detailed Description:

The planetarium turns from space exploration to exploration inside of living cells. The theater becomes a virtual lab to find out what goes on inside the structure that makes up every living thing. The tools for examining cells have been improving our understanding from the invention of the microscope about 300 years ago to the development of fluorescent dyes and scanning electron microscopes in the recent past.

Cells contain internal structures called organelles, each of which performs a different task. These tasks are similar to tasks performed within a city. Within the “Cell City” the cytoskeleton is like an ever-changing roadway system, transporting materials from one part of the cell to another. The endoplasmic reticulum resembles a manufacturing plant where ribosomes turn raw materials into proteins. Golgi bodies package and distribute the proteins to other areas of the cell, and mitochondria act as the power plants within the cell. The control center, or “City Hall” is in the cell’s nucleus.

Through the process of endocytosis, a molecule is absorbed into the cell, where it is surrounded in an endosome. The endosome comes in contact with a lysosome which breaks down the molecule. Amino acids and cholesterol are expelled and transported to the ribosomes where they are assembled into proteins. The final form of the protein is created in the golgi network.

Within the nucleus of the cell is a unique chemical messenger, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which provides the directions for the activities that take place within the cell. The cell and its DNA are replicated in the process of cell division or mitosis.

As time goes by, old cells die off and are replaced by new cells, in a process that continues throughout our lives. While individual cells die off, the master plan is passed on to new cells, and to our offspring.

Even though it seems we understand the processes inside the living cell, there is much more to learn.