Plant and Animal Tissues

INTRODUCTION Anatomically complex living things like animals and plants have lots of different cell types that specialize in their form and function. A tissue is a combination of similar cells that work together to perform a particular function. In an animal, a tissue might form a protective lining or facilitate movement by contracting. In plants, a tissue might conduct water or carry out photosynthesis. Tissues form body organs. In an animal for example, epithelial, muscle, and connective tissues come together to form an organ like the heart, whereas in plants, tissues like xylem (which conducts water), phloem (which conducts food), and cortex tissues might come together to form an organ like a root.

Animal Tissues: Every animal tissue falls within one of four major types:
epithelial, connective, muscle, fibrous, cartilage, bone, adipose, vascular, and nervous. You will examine the first three of these tissue types in lab today.

Epithelial tissue covers body surfaces and lines the inside of body cavities, organs, and glands. Epithelial tissue performs three important functions: protection from physical injury, sun radiation, and infection; control of permeability to avoid fluid loss from underlying tissues; and secretion of needed substances by specialized clusters of epithelial cells that form glands. Epithelial cells are packed closely together allowing little or no intercellular material between them. In fact, the cells are packed so tightly, that blood vessels cannot pass between them making epithelium avascular. Epithelial tissues are classified according to cell shape and their organization to form layers. A single-layer of cells forms a simple epithelium while multiple layers form a stratified epithelium.

Connective tissue forms a framework upon which epithelial tissue rests and within which nerve tissue and muscle tissue are embedded. Blood vessels travel through connective tissue. Connective tissue functions not only as a mechanical support for other tissues but also as an avenue for communication and transport between other tissues. Bone tissue is a form of connective tissue with a hard extracellular matrix. The hardness that characterizes bone provides protection for tissues and internal organs. Bone stores mineral salts like calcium and phosphorus, provides a rigid structure against which muscles work, and contains the marrow where blood cells are manufactured. The matrix of mineral salts and collagen fibers is organized in layers called lamellae. Bone tissue is produced by mobile bone cells called osteoblasts. As new bone is produced, the osteoblasts cement themselves into lacunae. These immobile, mature bone cells are called osteocytes. The osteocytes receive nutrients through tiny canals called canaliculi and are connected to blood vessels through a central canal called the osteonic canal.

Muscle tissue consists of specialized cells containing protein filaments. The proteins that make up the filaments are mostly myosin and actin which are arranged in parallel bundles. The protein filaments enable the cells to shorten in length (contract). Contraction of many cells in a coordinated manner allows for the fluid movement of body parts. Skeletal or striated muscle is the type of muscle that attaches to bone and the primary tissue of the muscular system. Theses cells are extremely long and cylindrical in shape. Each cell contains many nuclei and filaments that run perpendicular to the cells length creating bands or striations. Contraction of skeletal muscle is controlled by conscious action and is said to be voluntary.

Fibrous tissue a fibrous connective tissue consisting of compact, strong, inelastic bundles of mostly parallel collagenous fibers that are glistening white. Dense regular fibrous tissue comprises the tendons, the aponeuroses, and the ligaments; dense irregular fibrous tissue comprises the fascial membranes, the dermis of the skin, the periosteum, and the capsules of organs.

Cartilage tissue is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs. It is not as hard and rigid as bone but is stiffer and less flexible than muscle.Cartilage is composed of specialized cells called chondroblasts that produce a large amount of extracellular matrix composed of collagen fibers, abundantground substance rich in proteoglycan, and elastin fibers. Cartilage is classified in three types, elastic cartilage, hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage, which differ in the relative amounts of these three main components. Chondroblasts that get caught in the matrix are called chondrocytes. They lie in spaces called lacunae with up to eight chondrocytes per lacuna.

Bone tissue It is similar to cartilaginous tissue. Tissue consists of basic substance, ossein fibres (that is collagen fibres, called ossein fibres in bone tissue), and bone cells (osteocytes), surrounded by osseous lacunas. Basic substance contains big amount of mineral salts.

Vascular tissue (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Botany) tissue of higher plants consisting mainly of xylem and phloem and occurring as a continuous system throughout the plant: it conducts water, mineral salts, and synthesized food substances and provides mechanical support Also called conducting tissue

Adipose tissue is connective tissue in which energy in the form of fat is stored.The cells in adipose tissue (adipocytes) are distended by droplets of fat. Adipose tissue helps to cushion and insulate the body. Obese individuals have an excessive amount of adipose tissue

Nervous tissue Nervous tissue is the material that makes up the brain, spinal cord and network of nerves around the body.Nervous tissue consists of one or more nerve cell (called neurons) that relay messages to and from various parts of the nervous system.The brain, the spinal cord and the nerves are all composed of nervous tissue..

Plant Tissues: Plant tissues generally fall within one of three major types:
parenchyma, collenchyma, and sclerenchyma. You will examine all three of these tissue types today.

Parenchyma is the name of the generalized cell type which makes up the fundamental or ground tissue of the primary plant body and is also present in vascular tissue. It is generally living at maturity and has relatively thin primary cell walls of even thickness. Most of an herbaceous plants body is made up of parenchyma.

Collenchyma is the name for elongated cells with irregularly thickened primary walls usually rich in pectin and water. They cells are living at maturity and form tissues that support growing regions of the plant. Collenchyma typically forms strands or layers under the outermost cell layer (the epidermis) in stems and leaves and provides strength and plasticity.

Sclerenchyma is made up of cells that support other cells and are typically dead at maturity. The cell walls typically include secondary cell walls that are reinforced with not only cellulose but lignin. Sclerenchyma cell walls are very thick and form the hardest plant structures including wood and woody structures like nut shells. There are several types of sclerenchyma cells including types that are solitary cells or cells occurring in small clusters (sclerids). The mature xylem and phloem cells that make up the important vascular tissues of plants also contain sclerenchyma cells called fibers.

By: Cyrille Keith S. Francisco

Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials, MJ,[1] is an American former professional basketball player, entrepreneur, and majority owner and chairman of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time."[2] Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.[3] After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball.[4] In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 199394 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 199596 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards. Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include five MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press's list of athletes of the century. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Jordan is also noted for his product endorsements. He fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1985 and remain popular today.[5] Jordan also starred in the 1996 feature film Space Jam as himself. He is the majority owner and head of basketball operations for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, having won a bidding war to buy controlling interest in the team from founding owner Robert L. Johnson.

Reaction
Jordan was a shooting guard who was also capable of playing small forward position he would primarily play during his second return to professional basketball with the Washington Wizards. Jordan was known throughout his career for being a strong clutch performer. He decided numerous games with last-second plays and performed at a high level even under adverse circumstances. His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash-talk and well-known work ethic. Jordan had a versatile offensive game. He was capable of aggressively driving to the basket, as well as drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate; his 8,772 free throw attempts are the ninth highest total of all time. As his career progressed, Jordan also developed the ability to post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jump shot, using his leaping ability to "fade away" from block attempts. According to Hubie Brown, this move alone made him nearly unstoppable.[116] Despite media criticism as a "selfish" player early in his career, Jordan's 5.3 assists per game] also indicate his willingness to defer to his teammates. In later years, the NBA shortened its three-point line to 22 feet (from 23 feet, 9 inches), which coupled with Jordan's extended shooting range to make him a long-range threat as wellhis 3-point stroke developed from a low 9/52 rate (.173) in his rookie year into a stellar 111/260 (.427) shooter in the 199596 season.[12] For a guard, Jordan was also a good rebounder (6.2 per game). In 1988, Jordan was honored with the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award and became the first NBA player to win both the Defensive Player of the Year and MVP awards in a career (since equaled byHakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Kevin Garnett; Olajuwon is the only player other than Jordan to win both during the same season). In addition he set both seasonal and career records for blocked shots by a guard, and combined this with his ball-thieving ability to become a standout defensive player. His 2,514 steals are second highest all-time behind John Stockton, while his steals per game average is third all-time. Jerry West often stated that he was more impressed with Jordan's defensive contributions than his offensive ones.

By: Cyrille Keith S. Francisco