Living cells constantly interact with the blood or tissue fluid around them, taking in some substances and secreting or excreting others. There are several mechanisms of transport that enable cells to move materials into or out of the cell: diffusion, osmosis, facilitated diffusion, active transport, filtration, phagocytosis, and pinocytosis. Some of these take place without […]

Cytoplasm is a watery solution of minerals, gases, organic molecules, and cell organelles that is found between the cell membrane and the nucleus. Cytosol is the water portion of cytoplasm, and many chemical reactions take place within it. Cell organelles are intracellular structures, often bounded by their own membranes, that have specific functions in cellular […]

Despite their many differences, human cells have several similar structural features: a cell membrane, a nucleus, and cytoplasm and cell organelles. Red blood cells are an exception because they have no nuclei when mature. The cell membrane forms the outer boundary of the cell and surrounds the cytoplasm, organelles, and nucleus.
Also called the plasma membrane, […]

All living organisms are made of cells and cell products. This simple statement, called the cell theory, was first proposed more than 150 years ago. You may think of a theory as a guess or hypothesis, and sometimes this is so. A scientific theory, however, is actually the best explanation of all available evidence. All […]

Nerve tissue consists of nerve cells called neurons and some specialized cells found only in the nervous system. The nervous system has two divisions: the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The brain and spinal cord are the organs of the CNS. They are made of neurons and specialized cells called […]

There are several kinds of connective tissue, some of which may at first seem more different than alike. The types of connective tissue include areolar, adipose, fibrous, and elastic tissue as well as blood, bone, and cartilage. A characteristic that all connective tissues have in common is the presence of a matrix in addition to […]