Micrurgy Microdissection

the devices and techniques that make it possible to perform operations under the microscope on very small objects, such as microorganisms, protozoans, the cells of multicellular organisms, and intracellular structures (nuclei, chromosomes, and so forth). Micrurgy includes microisolation, microinjection, microvivisection, and microsurgical intervention (for example, eye operations).

Micrurgy has developed greatly in the 20th century, thanks to improvements in micromanipulators and other special microinstruments—needles, pipettes, microelectrodes.

In micrurgy, the object is placed in a chamber filled with physiological solution, petrolatum oil, blood serum, or some other medium. The technique makes it possible to isolate individual cells, including microbes, cut them into parts, remove and transplant nuclei and nucleoli, destroy particular sections and organoids, introduce microelectrodes and chemicals, and extract organoids. Micrurgy makes it possible to study the cell’s physicochemical properties, physiological state, and limits of reactivity. It has special significance for the possible transplanting of the nuclei of somatic cells into egg cells, and vice versa. Thus, in 1963, J. Gurdon transferred the nucleus of an amphibian intestinal epithelial cell to an ovum from an animal of the same species. The structure and vital activities of a cell are sharply disrupted by micrurgy, so that its physiological conditions during the operation must be strictly controlled.