Specialized cells

3.9
Cells with special jobs

• In single celled organisms one cell has to carry out every life process,
• In larger organisms, cells are specialized for different functions.
Red blood cells
Red blood cells
• More than half the cells in our body are red blood cells.
• They are the smallest cells.
• They are travelling through a blood vessel made from a tube of wider,
flatter cells.
• Red blood cells do not have nucleus and they are small and flexible.
• They are packed full of haemoglobin ( chemical carries oxygen).
• Red blood cells specialized to squeeze through narrow blood vessels to
deliver oxygen to every other cell.
Muscle cells
• Muscle cells are long and thin.
• They are adapted to work together.
• Some are grouped in to bundles. E.g., muscles joined to bones.
• Some are linked together. E.g., muscles in the heart.
• Muscle cells are full of fibres. They allow muscle cells to contract and
produce movements.
Fat cells.
• These big cells are full of fat.
• The nucleus and cytoplasm are squeezed to the side to make room for fat.
• Fat cells act as an energy store of the body.
• Fat cell layer under the skin helps to keep us warm.
Bone cells
• Bone is rigid and hard.
• Bone cells make fibres and excrete them into the surroundings.
• Minerals stick to these fibres and turn then into solid bone.
Specialised plant cells
• Leaf cells specialized to carry out photosynthesis.
• They have special organelles called chloroplast to capture sunlight.
• Root cells specialized to absorb water and minerals from the soil.
• The cells on the outside of this root are root hair cells.
• They have long, thin side branches.
• They increase the surface area of roots and make it easier for them to collect water
and minerals.
• In the stem we can identify xylem cells and phloem cells.
• Xylem cells form tough hollow tubes that carry water from the roots to the rest of
the plant.
• Phloem cells are specialized carry nutrients down from the leaves.
Homework
• Textbook p.g. 45
• Workbook p.g. 23