In vitro facts for kids
In vitro means "in glass" or "in the glass." When scientists do in vitro studies, they are working with tiny living things like microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal living environment. Think of it as doing experiments in a test-tube or a Petri dish in a lab.
These studies help scientists look closely at parts of an organism without all the other complicated bits getting in the way. It's easier to study something specific this way. However, what happens in vitro might not always be exactly what happens inside a whole living thing. When studies are done inside living organisms (like humans, animals, or plants), they are called in vivo studies.
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What Does In Vitro Mean?
In vitro comes from Latin and means "in glass." These studies use parts of an organism that have been taken out of their usual living surroundings. For example, scientists might grow microorganisms or cells in special liquids called culture media. They can also study tiny proteins in solutions.
People often call these "test-tube experiments" because they traditionally happen in lab tools like test tubes, flasks, or Petri dishes. Today, scientists use many advanced tools from molecular biology for in vitro work.
In contrast, studies done inside living creatures – like tiny germs, animals, people, or whole plants – are known as in vivo studies.
Examples of In Vitro Studies
Many important scientific discoveries come from in vitro studies. Here are some examples:
- Growing Cells: Scientists can take cells from multicellular organisms (like humans or animals) and grow them in a lab. This is called cell or tissue culture. It helps them study how cells grow and behave.
- Studying Tiny Parts: They can also look at very small parts inside cells, like mitochondria (which make energy) or ribosomes (which make proteins).
- Working with Molecules: Scientists can purify and study individual molecules like proteins, DNA (our genetic code), or RNA.
- Making Medicines: Many medicines, like antibiotics, are produced using in vitro methods.
- Virus Research: Viruses can only grow inside living cells. So, scientists study viruses in the lab by growing them in cell or tissue cultures. This is an in vitro way to understand how viruses work, different from studying them in whole animals.
- DNA Copying: The Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a famous in vitro method. It lets scientists make many copies of specific DNA or RNA pieces in a test tube.
- Finding Diseases: In vitro diagnostics are lab tests that use samples like blood or cells from a patient to help doctors diagnose diseases or check how a patient is doing.
- Drug Testing: In vitro tests can help understand how drugs or chemicals move through the body, how they are used up, and how they leave the body. For example, specific cell experiments can guess how well a medicine will be absorbed in the stomach.
Why In Vitro Studies Are Helpful
In vitro studies offer many benefits. They are simpler, more convenient, and allow scientists to look at things in much more detail than they could with a whole living organism. They can also help reduce the need for animal testing.
Simpler to Study
Living organisms are incredibly complex. They have thousands of genes, proteins, and other molecules all working together in a very organized way. This makes it hard to understand how just one part works or how two parts interact.
In vitro work simplifies the system. Scientists can focus on just a few parts at a time. For example, to understand how our immune system fights off germs, scientists use in vitro studies to isolate specific proteins called antibodies. They can then study how these antibodies find and attach to foreign invaders, helping us understand how our body protects itself.
Specific to Humans
Another great thing about in vitro methods is that scientists can study human cells directly. This means they don't have to guess if results from animal cells will be the same for humans.
Easy and Automated
In vitro methods can be made very small and even automated by machines. This allows scientists to test many different molecules quickly, which is very useful for finding new medicines or checking for harmful chemicals.
Challenges of In Vitro Studies
The main challenge with in vitro experiments is that it can be hard to know if the results will be the same in a whole living organism. Scientists must be careful not to over-interpret their findings, as this can lead to wrong ideas about how a whole body works.
For example, a new medicine might stop a virus from growing in a test tube. But before it can be used for people, it needs to be tested in vivo (in living animals and then humans). Often, drugs that work well in vitro don't work as well in vivo. This can happen because the drug might not reach the right place in the body, or it might be harmful to other parts of the body that weren't in the in vitro test.
From Lab to Living Organism
It's usually not possible to just take results from in vitro experiments and directly predict what will happen in a whole living organism in vivo. So, scientists work hard to find ways to connect in vitro results to in vivo effects.
Some solutions include:
- Making in vitro systems more complex: Scientists are trying to create in vitro systems that are more like real tissues and organs, sometimes called "human on chip" systems.
- Using math models: They also use computer models to simulate how complex systems behave. The in vitro data helps them set up these models.
These two approaches can work together. Better in vitro systems give better data for the math models. As in vitro experiments become more advanced, they produce more complex data, making mathematical models even more important to understand everything.
Images for kids
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Cloned plants in vitro
See also
- Animal testing
- Ex vivo
- In situ
- In utero
- In vivo
- In silico
- In papyro
- In natura
- Animal in vitro cellular and developmental biology
- Plant in vitro cellular and developmental biology
- In vitro toxicology
- In vitro to in vivo extrapolation
- Slice preparation
