PHYSIOLOGY OF

ANIMAL TISSUES
by Sudheera Semasinghe
The Human body is composed of 4
basic types of tissues:
1. Epithelial tissue
2. Connective tissue
3. Muscular tissue
4. Nervous tissue
Epithelial Tissues
 The Principle Functions of Epithelial
Tissues
• Covering, lining, and protecting surfaces
• Absorption
• Secretion
• Contractility
Characteristic Features of Epithelial Cells
• The forms and dimensions of epithelial cells range from high columnar to cuboidal to
low squamous cells.
• Most epithelia rest on connective tissue. This layer of connective tissue is called Lamina
Propria.
• Epithelial cells show polarity. Region of the cell that faces the connective tissue is called
the basal pole, whereas the opposite pole usually facing the space is called the apical
pole and the intervening sides apposed in neighboring cells are the lateral surfaces.
• Basal Lamina and basal membranes
• Intercellular adhesion and other junctions.
 Types of Epithelia
• Covering or lining epithelia
• Glandular epithelia
 Simple Squamous Epithelium
• Structure
• Single Layer of flattened cells
• Function
• Absorption, and filtration
• Not effective protection – single layer of cells.
• Location
• Walls of capillaries, air sacs in lungs
• Form serous membranes in body cavity
Air sacs in lungs
 Simple Cuboidal Epithelium
• Structure
• Single layer of cube shaped cells
• Function
• Secretion and transportation in glands, filtration in kidneys
• Location
• ducts (pancreas & salivary), kidney tubules, covers ovaries
Kidney tubules
 Pseudostratified Epithelium
• Structure
• Irregularly shaped cells with nuclei at different levels – appear
stratified, but aren’t.
• All cells reach basement membrane
• Function
• Absorption and Secretion
• Goblet cells produce mucus
• Cilia (larger than microvilli) sweep mucus
• Location
• Respiratory Linings & Reproductive tract
 Stratified Columnar Epithelium
• Epiglottis
• Conjunctiva of the eye
• Pharynx
• Anal mucous membrane
 Stratified Cuboidal Epithelium

• Male urethra
• Sweat glands
 Transitional Epithelium
• Structure
• Many layers
• Very specialized – cells at base are cuboidal or columnar; at surface
are umbrella shaped.
• Change between stratified & simple as tissue is stretched out.
• Function
• Allows stretching (change size)
• Location
• Urinary bladder, ureters & urethra
 Exocrine glands
• Contain ducts, empty onto epithelial
surface
• Sweat, Oil glands, Salivary glands,
Mammary glands.
 Types of Exocrine glands
• Branching
• Simple – single, unbranched duct
• Compound – branched.
• Shape: tubular or alveolar
• Tubular – shaped like a tube
• Alveolar – shaped like flasks or sacs
• Tubuloalveolar – has both tubes and sacs in gland
 Modes of Secretion
• Merocrine
• Just released by exocytosis without altering the gland at
all.
• Ex: Sweat glands and salivary glands
• Holocrine
• The gland ruptures and releases secretion and dead
cells as well.
• Ex: Sebaceous glands (oil glands on the face)
Connective
Tissues
Functions of Connective
Tissues
1.Enclosing and separating other
tissues.
2.Connecting tissues to one another
3.Supporting and moving parts of
the body
4.Storing compounds
5.Cushioning and insulating.
6.Transporting.
7.Protection
 Cells in Connective Tissues

• The name of the cell identifies the cell

functions by means of one of the following
suffixes: -blast, -cyte, or -clast.
• Blasts create the matrix,
• Cytes maintain it,
• Clasts break it down for remodeling.
 Types of Connective Tissues

• Loose Connective Tissue

• Dense Connective Tissue
• Cartilage Tissue
• Bone Tissue
• Blood Tissue
 Loose Connective Tissue
• Typical Location
• Beneath skin
• Between organs
• Functions
• Provides support
• Insulation
• Food storage
• nourishment for epithelium
 Types of Loose Connective
Tissues
• Areolar Connective Tissue
• Adipose Tissue
• Reticular Tissue
 Areolar Connective Tissue
• Function: Loose packing, support, and nourishment for
the structures with which it is associated
• Location
• Widely distributed throughout the
body;
• substance on which epithelial
basement membranes rest;
• packing between glands, muscles,
and nerves;
• Attaches the skin to underlying
tissues
 Adipose Tissue
Functions:
• Packing material,
• Thermal insulation,
• energy storage,
• Protection of organs against injury from
being bumped
Location: in mesenteries, in renal pelvis,
around kidneys, attached to the surface of
the colon, in mammary glands,
 Reticular Tissue
• Function: Provides a
superstructure for
lymphatic and
hemopoietic tissues
• Location: Within the
lymph nodes, spleen,
bone marrow
 Dense Connective Tissue
• Dense connective tissue has a relatively large number of protein
fibers, which form thick bundles and fill nearly all of the extracellular
space.

• Types of Dense Connective Tissue

• Dense Regular Collagenous Connective Tissue
• Dense Regular Elastic Connective Tissue
• Dense Irregular Collagenous Connective Tissue
• Dense Irregular Elastic Connective Tissue
 Dense Regular Collagenous
Connective Tissue
• Function: Able to withstand great pulling forces exerted
in the direction of fiber orientation; great tensile strength
and stretch resistance
• Location: Tendons and ligaments.
Dense Regular Elastic Connective Tissue

• Function: Able to stretch and recoil like a rubber band,

with strength in the direction of fiber orientation
• Location: Vocal folds and elastic ligaments between the
vertebrae and along the dorsal aspect of the neck.
 Dense Irregular Collagenous
Connective Tissue
• Function: Tensile strength capable of
withstanding stretching in all directions
• Location: Sheaths; most of the dermis of the
skin; organ capsules and septa; outer covering of
body tubes
 Dense Irregular Elastic Connective
Tissue

• Function: Capable of strength, with

stretching and recoil in several directions
• Location: Elastic arteries
 Cartilage Tissue
Cartilage is composed of cartilage cells within an
extensive and relatively rigid matrix.

The surface of nearly all cartilage is surrounded by

a layer of dense irregular connective tissue called
the perichondrium
 Types of Cartilage Tissues

• Hyaline Cartilage
• Fibrocartilage
• Elastic Cartilage
 Hyaline Cartilage
• Allows the growth of long bones;
• Provides rigidity with some flexibility in the trachea,
bronchi, ribs, and nose;
• Forms rugged, smooth, yet somewhat flexible articulating
surfaces;
Location
• Forms : Growing
the embryonic long bones, cartilage rings of the
skeleton.
respiratory system, costal cartilage of ribs, nasal
cartilages, articulating surface of bones, embryonic
skeleton
 Fibrocartilage
• Somewhat flexible and capable of
withstanding considerable pressure; connects
structures subjected to great pressure.

Location: Intervertebral disks,

symphysis pubis
articular disks
 Elastic Cartilage
Provides rigidity with even more
flexibility than hyaline cartilage because
elastic fibers return to their original shape
after being stretched.
Location: External ears, epiglottis,
auditory tubes
Types of Bone Tissue

• Spongy Bone Tissue

• Compact Bone Tissue
 Spongy Bone Tissue
• Acts as scaffolding to provide
strength and support without the
greater weight of compact bone.

• Location: In the interior of the bones of

the skull, vertebrae, sternum, and pelvis;
in the ends of the long bones
 Compact Bone Tissue
• Provides great strength and
support; forms a solid outer shell on
bones that keeps them from being
easily broken or punctured.

• Location: Outer portions of all bones,

the shafts of long bones.
Parts of Blood & Hemopoietic Tissue

• Blood
• Bone marrow
• Red bone marrow
• Yellow bone marrow
 Blood Tissue
• Transports oxygen,
carbon dioxide, hormones,
nutrients, waste products,
and other substances
• Protects the body from
infections and is involved
in temperature regulation
 Bone Marrow
• Produces new blood cells (red marrow)
• Stores lipids (yellow marrow)
Location:
(1) Red Marrow: in the ends of long
bones and in short, flat, and
irregularly shaped bones

(2) Yellow Marrow:

mostly adipose tissue, in the shafts of
long bones
Muscle Tissue
 Types of Muscle
Tissues
• Skeletal muscles: striated, voluntary

• Cardiac muscles: only in heart, striated,

involuntary

• Smooth/Visceral muscles: walls of

organs, not striated, involuntary
 Skeletal Muscles
• Attaches to bone, skin or fascia
• Striated with light & dark bands visible
with scope
• Voluntary control of contraction &
relaxation
• Multi nucleus
 Cardiac muscles
• Striated in appearance
• Involuntary control
• Auto rhythmic because of built in pacemaker
• Multi nucleus
 Smooth muscles
• Found in the walls of hollow organs
• Non-striated in appearance
• Involuntary
• One centrally located nucleus
 Functions of Muscle Tissue
• Producing body movements
• Stabilizing body positions
• Regulating organ volumes
• Movement of substances within the body
• Blood, lymph, urine, air, food and fluids, sperm,
etc.
• Producing heat
• Involuntary contractions of skeletal muscle
(shivering)
Properties of Muscle Tissue
• Excitability
• respond to chemicals released from nerve cells
• Conductivity
• ability to propagate electrical signals over membrane
• Contractility
• ability to shorten and generate force
• Extensibility
• ability to be stretched without damaging the tissue
• Elasticity
• ability to return to original shape after being stretched
 Physiology of Cardiac
Muscles
• Auto rhythmic cells
• contract without stimulation
• Contracts 75 times per min & needs lots O2
• Larger mitochondria generate ATP aerobically
• Sustained contraction possible due to slow
Ca+2 delivery
• Ca+2 channels to the extracellular fluid stay open
Physiology of Smooth
Muscles
• Contraction starts slowly & lasts longer
• No transverse tubules & very little SR
• Ca+2 must flows in from outside
Nervous
Tissue
Functions of the Nervous Tissue
1. Sensory Functions: Sensory receptors detect both
internal and external stimuli.
Functional unit: Sensory or Afferent Neurons

2. Integrative Functions: CNS integrates sensory input

and makes decisions
regarding appropriate responses Functional Unit:
Interneurons or Association Neurons of the Brain
and Spinal cord
3. Motor Functions: Response to
integration decisions.
Functional Unit: Motor or Efferent Neurons
Organization of the Nervous System
to supply the three basic functions
Organization of a
Nerve
Parts of a Neuron
Dendrites: Carry nerve
impulses toward cell body.
Receive stimuli from synapses or sensory receptors.

Cell Body: Contains nucleus and Nissal’s granules, a

form of rough endoplasmic reticulum.

Axon: Carry nerve Impulses away from the cell

bodies. Axons interact with muscle, glands, or other
neurons.
Types of Neurons
Types of
Interneurons
 Types of Supportive Cells in
Central Nervous System
1. Oligodendrocytes: Form the myelin sheath of the
CNS
2. Astrocytes: Help form the blood-brain barrier,
support the appropriate chemical environment for
neurons.
3. Microglia: Phagocytes in the CNS that engulf
microbes and cellular debris.
4. Ependymal Cells: Form blood-brain barrier in the
brain ventricles and central canal of spinal cord.
Produce cerebrospinal fluid and assist in its circulation.
 Types of Supportive Cells in
Parasympathetic Nervous
System
1. Schwann cells: Form the myelin sheath.
2. Satellite cells: Associated with sensory neuron cell
bodies
Physiology of Nervous
Tissue
Communication between neurons
at a synaptic junction
1. Electrical Synapses: Communication via gap junctions
between smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and
some neurons of the CNS. Provide fast,
synchronized, and two-way transmission of
information.

2. Chemical Synapses: Communication via chemical

neurotransmitters that diffuse across a synaptic
cleft. Provides slow one-way information flow
 References
• Junqueira's Basic Histology: Text and
Atlas (13th Ed)
by Anthony L. Mescher, PhD.

• Seeley's Anatomy & Physiology (10th

Edition)
by Cinnamon L. VanPutte, PhD., Jennifer L. Regan,
PhD., and