Pr

act
ical
no.1

Tit
le:Exami
nehumanhairforcort
exandmedulla.
Aim:Toobserveandanaly
zet hestr
uctur
alcomponent
sofhumanhai
r,par
ti
cul
arl
ythe
cortexandmedul
l
a,usi
ngami croscope.

Humanhai
riscomposedoft hreeprimaryl ay er
s:
1.Cuti
cle:Theoutermostlay erthatprot ect
stheinnerstruct
ures.
2.Cort
ex: Themiddlelayer,whichprov idesstrengt
h,elasti
cit
y,andcol
or.I
tcontai
ns
melaningranul
es.
3.Medulla:Theinnermostl ayer,whichmaybecont inuous,fragment
ed,orabsent,
dependingonthehai rty
pe.

Studyi
ngt
hecortexandmedull
ahelpsi
nident
if
y i
ngchar
act
eri
sti
csoft
hehai
r,whi
chi
s
useful
inf
orensi
cstudi
es,
biol
ogy,
andanthr
opology.

Requi
rement
s:
1.Sampleofhumanhai
r(di
ff
erentcol
orsort
ypes,
e.g.
,bl
ack,
brown,
blonde,
st
rai
ght,
curl
y)

2.Cleanglasssl i
des
3.Cov ersl
i
ps
4.Tweezer s
5.Distil
l
edwat erorglycerin(asmount i
ngmedium)
6.Droppers
7.Compoundmi cr
oscope
8.Scalpelorscissors(tocuthairsampl es)
9.Labelingmat eri
als(
mar ker,st
ickylabels)
10.
Tissuepaperorbl ot
tingpaper
11.
Notebookandpenci l forobservat
ions

Pr
ocedure:
Coll
ecthai
rsamplesf
rom di
ff
erentindi
vi
duals.Ensur
eeachsampleislabeled
pr
operl
y.Takeacl
eangl
asssl
i
de.Placeasmalldropofdi
sti
l
ledwat
erorgl
ycer
inin
thecent eroft heslideusi ngadr opper .Layt hehai rsampl ef latont hedr opofl i
quid.
Cov eritgent lywit
hacov ersli
pt oav oidai rbubbl es.Placet hesl ideundert hecompound
mi croscope.Begi nwi t
ht hel ow-powerobj ecti
v e( 10x)tol ocat ethehai rsampl eand
adjustt hef ocus.Swi tcht ot hehi gh-powerobj ecti
ve( 40x)t o observ et heinternal
structureoft hehair.Identifyt
hecor tex,whichappear sast het hickmi ddlelayerbeneat h
thecut i
cle.Lookf orpi gment ation( mel aningr anules)andnot ethecol orintensi
ty.
Locat ethemedul l
a,whi chi st
hecent ral,cyl
indricalpar tofthehai r.Observewhet herthe
medul laiscont i
nuous,i nterr
upted,f r
agment ed,orabsent .Recor dthesepat t
ernsf or
eachsampl e.Sketcht heobser vedst ructures( cor texandmedul l
a)asseenundert he
mi croscope.Not edownt hechar acteristi
csoft hehai r(e.
g. ,thickness,medul l
apat t
ern,
pigment ation).
Prepar eat abletorecor dtheobser vati
ons:

Sample Hair MedullaTy

pe Pi
gment
ati
on Thi
ckness Medull
ary
No. Color (
Cont
inuous/
Fragmented/
Absent
) ofCortex ofHair Index

1 Bl
ack Cont
inuous Hi
gh Thi
ck -
--
-

2 Br
own Fr
agment
ed Medi
um Medi
um -
--
-

Calcul
ation
Measur ethediamet
eroft hehai
randmedullaunderthemicr
oscopeusi
ngtheeyepi
ece
micromet er.
MedullaryIndex=DiameterofMedull
a/DiameterofHair
Recordt hemedull
aryindexfordi
ff
erentsamples.I
fiti
sbelow0.3mm thenitconf
ir
ms
ashumanhai r.

Resul
ts:
1.Thecor
texandmedul
l
aofhumanhai
rsampl
eswer
esuccessf
ull
yobser
ved.

2.Themedul latype(cont
inuous,fragment
ed,orabsent
)andcortexpi
gmentat
ion
varyacrossdiffer
enthairsamples.
3.Themedul lar
yindexfort hesampleswascalcul
ated,
indi
cat
ingstr
uctur
al
dif
ferencesbetweenindiv i
dual
hairs.