The Application and Practice of Cell Differentiation Model in Cell Biology Experiment Teaching

Life activities include a series of changes such as cell differentiation, growing, aging and death of cell. It is a continuous process of development. At present, in the experimental teaching of cell biology, experimental designs for independent and single knowledge points are still in the majority, which is not conductive to students’ systematic and organic understanding of life phenomena. In this study, three interrelated experiments were designed to study the differentiation process of U-937 cells: (1) observation of the effect of differentiation on cell morphology; (2) observation of the effect of differentiation on cell cycle; (3) observation of the effect of differentiation on cell phagocytosis. Through the observation of the experimental results, students will find that after differentiation: (1) cell growth changes from suspension to adherence, cell morphology change from circular to irregular polygon, with extended pseudopodia; (2) cell cycle arrest occurs in G1/S phase, staying in G1 phase; (3) the phagocytosis ability of differentiated cells to bacteria is significantly enhanced. The purpose of this teaching design is to enable students to deeply understand the changes of morphology, division, proliferation and phagocytosis of cells in the process of development. It integrates the three knowledge points skillfully, so as to help students fully understand the essence that life is a dynamic process of development. In the process, it can cultivate students’ ability to think, analyze and solve problems in an all-round way, enhancing students’ interest in teaching experiments, and motivate their subjective initiative.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2020.02.0017