Week 6. Chicken Wing Dissection Lab.

Lab 5.

Materials

Chicken wing (Gallus domesticus)

· If you do not normally purchase these, ask someone in the meat department of your favorite store to purchase just one.

Buffalo Wild Wings only had the boneless specimens and the Safeway butcher couldn't separate the big package to give me just one wing. So, I had to buy the whole chicken, it was less expensive than purchasing the big pack of wings. (Oooohhhh, the trouble I had to go through :) )

Examination gloves, if you have and want to use

Tray or plate

Dissecting tools (small knife, scissors, tweezers)

Paper towels, soap

Magnifying tool, if you have one

Procedure

1. Put on gloves. Thoroughly rinse and dry chicken wing. Place it on a plate or tray.

2. Examine the outside skin tissue. Record at least 4 observations of the chicken skin. (1 point)

• The skin appears to be loose.
• There are visible hair/feather follicles that make the surface of the skin lumpy.
• In addition to hair/ follicle bumps, there are other uneven clumps under the epidermal layer of the skin. 
• It is white in color.

3. Using scissors, knife, and tweezers, work slowly and carefully to cut the skin and peel it away from the muscle below. Notice the clear connective tissue that holds the skin to the muscles. The probe may be the most effective tool. As you peel off the skin, you may need to cut away some connective tissue.

4. Record at least 4 observations of connective tissue. (1 point)

• The connective tissue is loosely attached to the skin.
• It also connected to the muscle.
• It appears to be very fragile.
• It is transparent. 

5. Take a photo (.5 point)

 

6. What specific type of connective tissue is this? (.5 point)

• It has all of the classifications of loose connective tissue. 

7. Observe the yellowish clumps of fat tissue found outside the skin. Record at least 2 observations of the fat. (.5 point)

• The fat feels tough, as of in a solid form. (Suturated)
• It's located sporadically across the surface of the skin. 

8. What is the biological term for the type of cells that store fat? (.5 point)

• The biological name for this type of the fat cells is adipocytes.

9. Name at least 2 functions of this fat. (1 point)

• It is an energy storage.
• It also provides an insulation. 

10. Observe bundles of muscle tissue surrounding the bones. Separate the bundles of muscles by separating them out with your fingers. Begin by inserting your thumb into the muscle by pushing through the connective tissue covering the muscle. It will give way at the natural separations between the muscle bundles.


11. Viewing through a magnifying tool, if you have one, (but still do if you don’t) describe 2 characteristics of the arrangement of the muscle bundles as you see them here. (.5 points)

• Each muscle bundle is enclosed in connective tissue. (Fascia) 
• Each one is connected to the joints by an individual tendon and to the bone by the ligament.  

12. Using your textbook or another reference, sketch a representation of the muscles starting with the muscle cell and ending with the whole muscle. Cite your source! (3 points)

http://www.student.loretto.org/humanbiology/BioLinks/chp4/slide11.htm

13. What type of muscle tissue are you viewing? (.5 point)

• This is a skeletal muscle.

14. Name the function of this type of muscle tissue. (1 point)

• Its function is to allow the movement of the bones. 

15. Name 2 two characteristics of this muscle tissue. (.5 point)

• This muscle can contract, upon receiving the signal.
• It also can relax.

16. Nerves are thin, threadlike, white strands found between the muscle and the nearest bone. Remove a single muscle by cutting the tendons and peeling the muscle away from the bone. Look for the nerve in your specimen. The texture is much different from a tendon or bone. It is rather slippery. Did you find one? (.5 points)

• I did!

17. Take a photo of the muscle and nerve or only the muscle, if you did not find the nerve. (.5 point)

 



18. The strong, shiny, white cords of tendons hold the muscle to the bones. Some of these tendons pulled away from the bone as you separated the muscle bundles.

Observe with a magnifying tool, if you have one, describe, and sketch

a. the attachment of a tendon to muscle. (.5 point)

• Thin, tough, white-ish Tendon becomes more and more like the muscle, it branches out with numerous strands, changes the color,  and completely merges with the muscle itself. 

b. the attachment of a tendon to the bone. (.5 point)

• Tendon extends its thin fibers and attaches itself to the bone. The connection is strong and precise. 

19. Take a photo. (.5)

20. Cut across the tendons at the elbow and peel back toward the carpal joint as if you were peeling a banana. Observe the numerous tendons and pull the freed muscles down and away from the bone. Don't cut any ligaments that attach bone to bone.

21. Take a photo. (.5)

"Dissection of the Chicken Wing & Comparison to Human Arm." We Love Teaching. n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2015.

22. Look closely at the ligaments with a magnifying tool. Describe 2 differences in appearance between tendons and ligaments. (.5 point)

• Tendon appears to be "stringy" and it is attached to the muscle.
• Ligaments look more like an adhesive tape, they hold bones together. 

23. What type of connective tissue composes the ligaments? (.5 point)

• Ligaments are composed of tough connective tissue.

24. Remove all remaining muscle to expose the bones of the chicken wing.

25. Take a photo. (.5)

26. Bend the elbow. Refer to pages 113-115 in your textbook and answer these questions.

a. What type of joint is this? (.5 point)

• This is a synovial type of joint.

b. What type of movement is being demonstrated? (.5 point)

• This joint represents the "hinge" type and it demonstrates the movement in one plane.

27. Cut into the elbow joint and separate the ulna and radius from the metacarpals. Observe the shiny white layer covering the ends of the bones. Name this covering according to its primary tissue and specific type. (1 point)

• This white layer is hyaline cartilage, it is a transition tissue, and it is a specialized type. 

28. Describe the texture of the ends of the bones at the joint. (.5 point)

• The texture feels tough but moist at the same time, it is very smooth. 

29. Name three functions of bone. (.5 point)

• Bones provide protection and the shape of our structure, and they provide us with an ability to move. 
• They contain the bone marrow, where the stem cells produce red and white blood cells. 
• They also provide storage for the minerals and fats. 

30. If you could see inside the bone. What soft material would you find? Do not break the raw chicken bone. There is danger from bone fragments flying out. (.5 point)

• Inside the bone is a soft material called the bone marrow. 

31. Name three specific types of cells present here. (1.5 points)

• Bone marrow contains two types of stem cells: hemopoietic (which can produce blood cells) and stromal (which can produce fat, cartilage, and bone).

• There are two types of bone marrow: red marrow (also known as myeloid tissue) and yellow marrow.

• Red blood cells, platelets, and most of white blood cells arise in the red marrow; some white blood cells develop in the yellow marrow.

• The color of yellow marrow is due to the much higher number of fat cells.

• Osteoblast, osteoclast, and osteocyte cells also inhibiting inside of the bone cavity. 

32. Explore and examine other parts.

33. Dispose of materials. Using warm water and soap thoroughly wash all tools and materials, including your hands and the surface you worked upon.

Now that I am done with this lab, everything is cleaned up and the chicken is also done, it is time to eat! 

Bon appetit!

Sources:

"Structure of a Muscle (1 of 4)." Structure of a Muscle (1 of 4). Web. 1 Oct. 2015. <http://www.student.loretto.org/humanbiology/BioLinks/chp4/slide11.htm>.


ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily. Web. 1 Oct. 2015. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/bone_marrow.htm>. Note: The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article "Bone marrow", which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.