Cells and tissues

Question 1

What is the function and structure of epithelial cells?

Answer 1

Form boundaries between internal organs and between the body and external environment
Protective function

Tightly packed together, minimal extracellular space, no blood supply

Question 2

What is the structure and function of connective tissue?

Answer 2

Can be liquid or solid, contain fibroblasts, has an extracellular matrix with collagen (protection), elastic fibres (stretch) and reticular fibres (support for other cell structures

Question 3

What is the structure and function of muscular cells?

Answer 3

Can be skeletal (parallel fibres, perpendicular striations, thin layer of connective tissue)

Cardiac (parallel fibres, slight striations, not neatly stacked)

Smooth (irregular fibres, cells shorten and lengthen to create a wave like motion)

Nervous (cell body at one end, nucleus in middle, dendrite and axon projecting out)