Electron microscopy of Paramecium (Ciliata).
Paramecium may be the best known single-celled organism in existence (Hausmann et al., 2003). Today its image often appears on television programs where the producers use it to illustrate a stereotypic microorganism, be it pathogenic or nonpathogenic, prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Paramecium was probably one of the first single-celled organisms observed with a light microscope by the Dutch cloth vendor and amateur lens maker Antoni van Leuwenhoek (1632-1723) (Dobell, 1932), and it is still being investigated in the 21st century in the days of the modern electron microscopes.
Hausmann
Klaus
K
Institute of Biology/Zoology, Laboratory for Protozoology, Free University of Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Allen
Richard D
RD
D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D005614:Freeze Fracturing / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006651:Histocytochemistry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010247:Paramecium / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods