Tissue Observations

When people think of the word "tissue," they generally think of the thin, soft paper which people blow or wipe their buggers on. However, that definition of tissue is not the term I want to talk about. Tissues, in the eyes of biologists and the scientific community, are made of many cells and split into four basic types of tissues- epithelial, connective, muscular, and nervous. Each of those tissues has a particular purpose in the human body.

This epithelial tissue has continous sheets, as shown above.
Courtesy of University of Tasmania School of Medicine.

Epithelial tissue covers a body surface or lines a body cavity. I want to focus on one aspect of the epithelial tissue- the continuous sheets. In each sample I have viewed, I have noticed the continuous sheets of the epithelial tissue, which is immensely different from the striations of muscle tissue or the fibers in connective tissue. To the left is an example of the epithelial tissue, courtesy of University of Tasmania School of Medicine.

Connective tissue is the most abundant and diverse abundant tissue, composing of three common properties- cells, extracellular fibers, and fluid. What I found most distinctive after viewing the samples was how many of the cells were represented as round circles when viewed on the microscope. Below is a picture of the connective tissue, courtesy of Kent Simmons.

Muscular tissue are composed of several different types- stratified or skeletal muscles, visceral or smooth muscles, and cardiac muscles. I found the human cardiac muscle the most interesting muscular muscle because they are stratified, extensively branched, and uninucleate. Below is a picture of the human cardiac muscle, courtesy of UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Nervous tissue consists of neurons. These neurons are made of three parts- cell body, one or more dendrites, and a single axon. Below is a picture of nervous tissue, courtesy of Austin CC.

References
"Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder." School of Medicine Disciplence of Pathology UTAS. Web. 06 September 2015.
Connective Tissue. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Sept. 2015. 
"Slides 43, 44, and 45-Human Cardiac Muscle." Slides 43, 44, and 45-Human Cardiac Muscle. Web. 06 Sept. 2015.
"Nervous Tissue." Nervous Tissue. Web. 06 Sept. 2015.