Animal and Plant Tissues

Connective tissues are fibrous tissues. They are made up of cells separated by non-living material, which is called extracellular matrix. Connective tissue gives shape to organs and holds them in place. Both blood and bones are examples of connective tissues.

They occur on the sides of plants and are responsible for the increase in diameters of roots and stems.
Cork is made of dead cells. Therefore, it is incapable of dividing and increasing the diameters of roots and stems of plants.

Myosin and actin are filamentous protein molecules contained in muscles. In the presence of calcium ions  myosin and actin  slide past each other and form cross-bridges, thereby contracting the muscle.

Blood consists of a fluid called plasma, which has red blood corpuscles (RBC), white blood corpuscles (WBC) and blood platelets. Blood circulates throughout the body in blood vessels. The blood transports oxygen, nutrients, hormones to tissues and organs. Lymph is a straw coloured fluid similar to blood but does not have RBCs. Lymph flows in special vessels called lymph vessels. Its function is to form a defence system for the body .

Histology is the study of tissues. All multicellular organisms possess groups of cells of similar structures and functions assembled together to form tissues.

Histopathology, is the microscopic study of the diseased tissue.It refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease.

The muscle tissue form the contractile tissue are made of muscle cells. Movement of body or limbs are brought about by contraction and the relaxation of the contractile proteins which are present in the muscle cells. The movement of the internal organs such as heart and alimentary canal, are all caused by muscle tissues.

Mayer coined the term as 'histology'.

These are fat cells. They are oval or rounded cells filled with fat droplets. This tissue is found below the skin and in the bone marrow. The function of this tissue is to store fat and conserve body heat.

At maturity the cork cells are nonliving, and their inner walls are lined with suberin, a fatty substance that is highly impermeable to gases and water (which is why cork is used to stop wine bottles). The walls of cork cells may also contain lignin.

Chondroitin is a molecule that occurs naturally in the body. It is a major component of cartilage. Chondroitin helps to keep cartilage healthy by absorbing fluid particularly water into the connective tissue. It may also block enzymes that break down cartilage, and it provides the building blocks for the body to produce new cartilage.

A brush border (striated border or brush border membrane) is the microvilli-covered surface of simple cuboidal epithelium and simple columnar epithelium cells found in certain locations of the body. It increases absorption.

Cutin helps in reduction of water loss in desert plants as it is waxy and water-resistant.

Phloem fibres are sclerenchymatous. They form the textile fibres in jute, flax and hemp.

It contains densely packed nerve cells called neurons, which are specialised for conduction of nerve impulses. Each nerve cell is called a neuron. These are highly specialised cells. They have the ability to receive stimulus from within or outside and send impulses to different parts of the body. Each cell consists of three parts, the cyton or the cell body, the dendrons which are short processes arising from the cyton and further branch into thin dendrites, and the axon which is a single long cylindrical process forming fine branches terminally. Dendrites receive impulses and the axon takes impulses away from the cell body.