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Concept
Ultrastructure
Summary
Ultrastructure (or ultra-structure) is the architecture of cells and biomaterials that is visible at higher magnifications than found on a standard optical light microscope. This traditionally meant the resolution and magnification range of a conventional transmission electron microscope (TEM) when viewing biological specimens such as cells, tissue, or organs. Ultrastructure can also be viewed with scanning electron microscopy and super-resolution microscopy, although TEM is a standard histology technique for viewing ultrastructure. Such cellular structures as organelles, which allow the cell to function properly within its specified environment, can be examined at the ultrastructural level.
Ultrastructure, along with molecular phylogeny, is a reliable phylogenetic way of classifying organisms. Features of ultrastructure are used industrially to control material properties and promote biocompatibility.
In 1931, German engineers Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invented the first electron microscope. With the development and invention of this microscope, the range of observable structures that were able to be explored and analyzed increased immensely, as biologists became progressively interested in the submicroscopic organization of cells. This new area of research concerned itself with substructure, also known as the ultrastructure.
Many scientists use ultrastructural observations to study the following, including but not limited to:
Human Tumors
Chloroplasts
Bone
Platelets
Sperm
A common ultrastructural feature found in plant cells is the formation of calcium oxalate crystals. It has been theorized that these crystals function to store calcium within the cell until it is needed for growth or development.
Calcium oxalate crystals can also form in animals, and kidney stones are a form of these ultrastructural features. Theoretically, nanobacteria could be used to decrease the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones.
Controlling ultrastructure has engineering uses for controlling the behavior of cells.
Official source
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