SNC2D
TVO ILC
Activity: Investigating the cell cycle in normal and cancer cells
Activity: Investigating the cell cycle in normal
and cancer cells
Purpose
In this activity, you see pictures of cells from an animal called a whitefish, whose cells closely
resemble your body cells when dividing. You will examine two sets of cells. The first set will be from
normal tissue and the second set will be from cells that have cancer.
Your goal is to determine
a. the time required for each of the various stages of the cell cycle of a fish
b. calculate the time spent in division, both in normal cells and ones with cancer.
Procedure
Begin the activity by classifying the phase (interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and
telophase) of each cell is in as it appears on your screen. Before you move on to the next cell, tally
up the number of cells in the tables below. You will do this for both the normal and cancer cells (40 of
each).
After counting the cells, you will calculate the percentage in the “percent of cells” row and use those
numbers to predict how much time a dividing whitefish cell spends in each phase. You will base your
calculation on a total cell cycle time of 24 hours.
Cell cycle of normal cells
Interphase
Prophase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase
Total
Number of
cells
Percent of
cells
100%
Time spent
(hours)
24
Copyright © 2018 The Ontario Educational Communications Authority. All rights reserved.
hours
1
SNC2D
TVO ILC
Activity: Investigating the cell cycle in normal and cancer cells
Cell cycle of cancer cells
Interphase
Prophase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase
Total
Number of
cells
Percent of
cells
100%
Time spent
(hours)
24
hours
Analysis
Calculate the time spent in each phase for both normal and cancer cells.
Use the following formulas:
Percentage of cells in a phase = number of cells in a phase/40 (total cells)
Time spent in that phase = Percentage of cells in a phase x 24 h
Example:
If the number of cells in prophase = 16
and the total number of cells observed = 40
then the percentage of cells in prophase = 16 / 40 = 40%
Time spent in prophase = 40% × 24 hours = 9.6 hours
Discussion
How many hours does a normal cell spend in interphase?
How many hours does a normal cell spend in mitosis (total hours of prophase, metaphase, anaphase,
and telophase)?
How many hours does a cancer cell spend in interphase?
How many hours does a cancer cell spend in mitosis (total hours of prophase, metaphase, anaphase,
and telophase)?
Copyright © 2018 The Ontario Educational Communications Authority. All rights reserved.
2
SNC2D
TVO ILC
Activity: Investigating the cell cycle in normal and cancer cells
Conclusion
What can you conclude from this investigation?
Copyright © 2018 The Ontario Educational Communications Authority. All rights reserved.
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