Animal cell - the history of knowledge

The cellular structure of living nature was revealed to mankind shortly after the invention of the microscope. In 1590, the device manufactured by Z. Jansen, brought scientific research to a new stage. The history of the discovery of the cell began precisely from this moment. Scientists of that time long came to know the structure of all living things, until the greatest discovery was made. The plant cell was first seen and studied by the English botanist and physicist Robert Hooke in 1665. On the slices of a cork tree he discovered unusual structures, similar in appearance to bees' honeycombs. They called them cells. But R. Hooke was deeply mistaken in his studies, suggesting that the cells themselves are empty, and their walls are living matter.

Further development of optics led to more advanced models of microscopes. It was with the help of the newest lenses that the Dutchman Antonio van Leeuwenhoek could see how the animal cage was arranged. He left the results of his research on paper in the form of simple drawings, depicting them seen in a microscope. He described bacteria, spermatozoa, as well as erythrocytes and their movement in the capillaries. But even despite the research of scientists, for a long time the question remained unresolved - whether or not cells are the basis of the structure of all living organisms. And only in 1838 - 1839 years the answer to it could give the botanist M. Shleiden and the zoologist T. Schwann. They formulated the basic postulates of the cellular theory, which existed to this day with minor changes, corrected by the latest scientific discoveries.

So, the German scientists, having analyzed the data available to them, were able to determine that absolutely all plant and animal organisms consist of cells. In this case, each plant and animal cell individually is an independent unit, living in a harmonious unity with the whole organism. But their conclusions were not entirely correct. However, the history of the study of the cell is full of similar incidents. After a while, their compatriot R. Virchow could prove that every cell is derived from another cell, and the assumption of the origin of the cellular substance from nowhere, put forward by its predecessors, to put it mildly, is erroneous.

The animal cell was simultaneously subjected to research in many countries. Thus, even before the formation of the cellular theory, the English botanist R. Brown discovered the obligatory component of each cell-the nucleus. And in 1895 T. Bauveri could see through a microscope and describe the bodies lying near the nucleus, which were called centrioles. In 1890, scientist R. Altman described two-membrane organelles, called mitochondria. In his opinion, the main function of mitochondria was to provide cells with energy. And, surprisingly enough, this assumption turned out to be correct and was confirmed by many years of research.

Then, over a long period of time, the learned brethren perfected the arrangement of microscopes, which made it possible to study the structure of the cell more closely . Periodically, there were scientific discoveries that corrected the existing cellular theory. But a real biological breakthrough occurred only after the introduction of electronic microscopes into operation. K. Porter in 1945 was able to detect and describe the endoplasmic reticulum (reticulum), through which the animal cell produces a synthesis of protein, sugars and lipids. Later, in 1955, with the aid of a light microscope, lysosomes were studied-special globular structures that ensure the splitting of biopolymers and containing various proteolytic enzymes.

The study of the animal cell proceeds according to the principle "from simple to complex". Modern methods of research make it possible to fully study the elements of DNA, the composition of protoplasm and much more. Therefore, with the development of technologies, it becomes possible to learn about the arrangement of the living world. And it is to this that the human mind strives.