Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

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MicroBob
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Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

#1 Post by MicroBob » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:38 am

Hi together,
I just got the book Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour in german translation from 1963.
It probably is a bit outdated here and there but it is interesting to read and there are lots of recipes and methods for the microscopist interested in chromosomes.
As always you find recipes with highly dangerous chemicals next to the ones with pepper and salt. 8-)
The usefulness of the recipes also depends on your access to chemicals. But this is a strong point of the book: There are many alternative recipes and you can pick your choice.
You might look for a book with lots of stain spots, then you have the chemicals included for free! :lol:

It can be borrowed online https://archive.org/details/handlingofc ... aincontent
though I don't know how this works and whether you can borrow it again when you need it longer.

It is cheap to buy too: https://www.amazon.com/Handling-Chromos ... B0000CKKQU

Bob

PeteM
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Re: Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

#2 Post by PeteM » Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:30 pm

Thanks, Bob, for posting this. This is about as close as kids (and we) can peer with an optical microscope toward the mysteries of DNA and replication.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
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Re: Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

#3 Post by MicroBob » Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:33 pm

Hi Pete,
I'm no biologist and to me it was quite astonishing to experience that chromosomes are visible with the light microscope.
We are doing this as the topic of our next meeting.
Enclosed a picture of onion root tip squash, stained in hot aceto-orcein.
I have been reading in the book in the train on the way to work and had to be careful not to miss my end station, the book is really interesting and very practically oriented.
Before using it one really has to scan the recipes for dangerous chemicals and procedures. :mrgreen:

Bob
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Hobbyst46
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Re: Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

#4 Post by Hobbyst46 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:58 pm

Bob,
The images you posted are attractive, yet I strangely feel, perhaps wrongly, that stained chromosomes are better resolved in brightfield, albeit poorer in aesthetic effects.
I would also suspect (more than respect) time-honored recipes that are based on hazardous stuff.

MicroBob
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Location: Northern Germany

Re: Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

#5 Post by MicroBob » Mon Nov 04, 2019 7:09 pm

Hi Doron,
this was one of my first tests and the staining is not very well differentiated. So the DIC led actually to more visible contrast. Resolution will be similar, but contrast is needed to make it visible. With the stacking I'm not too happy. In some structures it helps to include the other layers, in other cases clarity suffers. Now I try to remove unconnected stain more carefully and the general contrast is better.

Bob

PeteM
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Re: Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

#6 Post by PeteM » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:11 pm

Bob, FWIW, I've bought a copy of the book. Thanks again. If I get just one lesson for kids out of it - a bargain.

Your chromosomes image from the onion skin is far better than the prepared slide I happen to have (chromosomes cultured from blood). If you or Doron find something even better, hope you'll let us know how.

Seems to me that being able to see chromosomes is a great "jumping off point" to interest budding scientists in our latest understanding of life.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Book "The Handling of Chromosomes" Darlington & LaCour

#7 Post by MicroBob » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:31 pm

I took two pictures of the same position in a slide, the first one is taken with DIC, the second pure bright field. Only cropped and reduced in size.
This time this is acetic carmine stain.
Taken with 40:1 0,95 dry apo.

@Pete: I'm sure you will be happy with the book. Apparently Darling was quite an importan scientist. I wouldn't expect such a practical oriented book from somebody like him towards the end of his career. There is a lot of room for improvement in the slides I show here. For the perfect slide a lot of things have to be controlled and optimized and I'm sure I won't do this. What I'm looking for is the 20/80 method, 20% the effort, 80% the result, to use for the group meeting. It is very difficult to make a halfway acceptable slide on such a meeting when trying it for the first time. So it is a good plan to make it extra simple. But for me the quality of the slides is more than good enough. I hope the topic will attract some attention.

One thing I want to try: Feulgen staining chromosomes and looking at them in epi fluorescence, a hint I got from Wes.

Bob
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