Blog 3 - Tissues

The phrase "fearfully and wonderfully made" can apply to the construction, maintenance, and the overall structures and functions of tissues. There are two basic types of tissues: epithelial and connective tissues. Epithelial tissues are divided into 2 categories: simple or stratified. In each, they can also be categorized into 3 more groups: squamous, cuboidal, or columnar. By now, we can see that the great amount of tissues that make up our body are quite complex. The epithelial tissues have an apical surface that borders a lumen or cavity of which the tissue surrounds, and a basement membrane. How the cells of these tissues know what to do and where to produce themselves is quite complex, hence"fearfully made". The connective tissues are the "wonderful" tissues because they connect body parts. Instead of having almost no blood supplied to them, these tissues are mostly vascularized, with an exception to the tendons and ligaments. These tissues form the shape of our bodies, allow us to move with fluidity and grace, at least for most people. Tissues also know how to fix themselves quite well. If damaged, they do either of two things: regenerate cells of the same type of tissue that was injured, or the use of fibrosis which forms scar tissue. Which type of recovery occurs is based on the body's perception of the type of tissue that was damaged and the severity of the damage. Thus, our tissues know very much on how to heal itself as well as building itself into complex organs that allow our bodies run the way they do everyday.