CHANGES OF PERIODIC PROTOPLASMIC MOVEMENTS ON THE FAST CLINOSTAT

Abstract

Publisher Summary Small specimens of single cells are ideally apted for testing on a fast clinostat, a platform which rotates relatively fast about a horizontal axis. Under favorable conditions, particles within a rotating suspension on a fast clinostat show no relative movement; remaining movements add to the Brownian motion. That means a functional zero g state is achieved. This chapter discusses the construction of a clinostat microscope to look for the changes of periodic innercell movement of two different organisms. The test organisms were leaf-cells of the water plant Elodea canadensis and the slime mold, Physarum polycephalum. Elodea canadensis and Physarum polycephalum were observed in the submersed condition between an object slide and a cover slide. The study suggests that the weak hydrostatic pressure variations within the microchamber on the clinostat may be the reason for the more or less nonsystematic changes of the observed movements. Furthermore, the results of the study are compatible with a general g-sensitivity of the cell and can be interpreted as an adaptation process of a rated value donor that cybernates the cell matrix.