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You are Basically a Big Bag of Chemical Molecules

Body Science

Types of Tissues

It wasn’t until I was well into an anatomy & physiology class in college that I gave any thought to what was actually under my skin. It just wasn’t something I’d just casually think about. And as such, sayings like, “you are what you eat,” though familiar, had no real meaning to me.

The human body is made up of tissues, which are made up of cells, which are made up of molecules formed by organic chemical compounds. What I’m saying is you are basically a big bag of chemical molecules bundled together into cells that create tissues and organs.

Generally speaking, there are just four major tissue classifications based on the structures of those cells, and functions of the tissues that you are made of. The four types of tissue include epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscular tissue and nervous tissue.

Epithelial Tissue

Epithelial tissues are the tissues that interact with the environment. They cover the body surfaces and line hollow organs, cavities and ducts. These tissues are rarely covered by another tissue and as such they always have a free surface. They offer protection, serve as barriers, and act as secretory surfaces. Epithelial tissues include your skin, nails, hair and other tissue linings.

Connective Tissue

Connective tissues are one of the most abundant and widely distributed tissues in the body. It binds organs together, stores energy, and provides the body with immunity to disease-causing organisms. These are the tissues that protect, support and strengthen the other body tissues and the body’s organs. Connective tissues compartmentalize structures like skeletal muscles. Under this umbrella these tissues include your blood (a fluid connective tissue that acts as the body’s major transport system), lymph, bone, cartilage, and adipose (or fat) which is the primary reserve of stored energy in the body.

Muscular Tissue

Muscular tissues generate force, and in doing so generate heat that helps warm the body. Muscular tissue includes skeletal muscle (the muscles that move your bones or skeleton), smooth muscle (the muscles that line your intestines), and cardiac muscle (the special muscle that your heart is made of).

Nervous Tissue

Nervous tissues monitor changes in conditions inside and outside the body, and generate electrical signals called nerve action potentials (or nerve impulses) to activate muscular contractions and other responses to those changes. Nervous tissues include your nerves and nerve endings, spinal cord and brain.

At the end of the day, that’s it. That’s all you are made up of. Tissue itself is made up of cells and the structure of those cells built by chemical compounds, vary by tissue type.

You are basically a big bag of chemicals.

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