All living organisms are made of cells which helps them to perform basic life activities. However, in Multicellular organisms, for example, “us”, a single cell won’t be able to perform all the tasks. Instead, a different bunch of cells that have similar characteristics merge to do specific functions.
Epithelial vs Connective Tissue
The main difference between Epithelial and connective tissues is that epithelial tissue forms a barrier around our body to keep external micro-organisms out of the body’s reach and covers most organs and cavities in the body whereas connective tissues are trained to sustain and attach to various body parts.
Epithelial tissues are the most basic and simple type of tissue. It acts as a protective layer in the animal body and forms a continuous sheet with tight packing. They can be both single layer or multi-layered groups of cells. Also, their functioning is largely specific to the exact position where they are located.
Connective Tissues, on the other hand, are made up of cells and gel-like intercellular substances that help in giving support and structure to the body. They can connect bones, muscles to bones, bind tissues together, and can also create a packing around organs to support them.
Comparison Table between Epithelial and Connective Tissue
| Comparison Parameters | Epithelial tissue | Connective Tissue |
| Components | They protect epithelial cells and have very little or no intercellular matrix. | They are made with different types of cells and the matrix is found in abundance in it |
| Arrangement | They are tightly packed to each other and form a continuous sheet-like structure of single or multi-layered cells. | They are separated throughout the matrix and have a smaller number of cells. |
| Basement Membrane | They rest on a sensitive membrane which is made up of collagen | They are not attached to any basement membrane. |
| Function | They act as a barrier for outside micro-organisms and also protect cells from physical damage, dehydrating, or biochemical effects. | They help in binding, supporting, and packing together different organs of the body. |
| Abundance | They are less abundant than connective tissue. | They are the most abundant animal tissue. |
| Found in | They are found in skin, glands, the lining of the buccal cavity, etc. | They are found in muscles, blood vessels, capillaries, tendons, etc. |
What Is Epithelial Tissue?
Epithelial Tissue is a type of Animal tissue which has close-packed cells to form a continuous sheet of single or multi-layer arrangement. They are capable of repairing themselves continuously as a result of the high rate of cell division. Also, they are widely spread throughout the entire body and cover all body surfaces, the lining of body cavities, and organs.
Epithelial cells rest on a sensitive basement membrane that includes a unique type of matrix protein. They are called collagen. The cells of the body surface called the Epidermis design the external covering of skin and shield it from dehydration and dangerous micro-organisms. They also help in the absorption of water and nutrients and eliminate waste products. Epithelial cells present in sense organs also help in sensing and secreting substances like mucus.
Their shape can vary from being squamous, cuboidal to columnar. They don’t have any blood vessels, because of which they are dependent on using the Diffusion process from the underlying connective tissue to receive nourishment. Depending upon their shape and function, epithelial tissues can be classified into mainly 5 types. It includes Cuboidal Epithelium, Squamous Epithelium, Columnar Epithelium, Ciliated Epithelium, Glandular Epithelium.
What is Connective Tissue?
Connective Tissues, as the name implies are groups of tissue that are specifically helpful for connecting and anchoring various body organs. They are found in between other tissues all around the body. It has a gel-like intercellular substance called medium or matrix to form the bulk of it.
It can connect bones, muscles to bones and binds other organs by creating a tight packing around them, which prevents the organs from getting misplaced. It is essentially made up of different types of cells, fibers like collagen and extracellular matrix. This matrix determines much of the qualities that the tissue has and acts as a medium for the exchange of substances between the blood and the cells. It is found in abundance in the body and is freely and loosely arranged, there is no specific order. Unlike Epithelial tissues, Connective tissue is rich in blood and nerve supply, which ultimately provides nutrition to the cells. connective tissues are made up of different types of cells and a large amount of intercellular matrix.
These tissues can be divided into these categories Areolar or Lose Connective tissue, Dense Regular Connective tissue, Adipose tissue, Skeletal tissue, Fluid Connective tissue.
Main Differences Between Epithelial and Connective Tissue
- Epithelial tissue is created with epithelial cells and a short amount of intercellular matrix, while connective tissues are made up of different types of cells and very huge amount of intercellular matrix.
- The basic structure of epithelial cells is either multilayer or single whereas In connective tissue cells are situated in a random order and do not have any unique structure of their own.
- Epithelial tissues specially form a covering of the organs, internally as well externally whereas connective tissues supports and anchor many different tissue and organs.
- Epithelial tissue has blood capillaries to take nutrition while in connective tissue, cells have blood capillaries to get nutrition.
- Epithelial tissues lie on the upper part of the basement membrane whereas connective tissues lie in the lower part of the basement membrane.
- Epithelial tissues can be found in lining of the blood vessels, buccal cavity, alveoli, and kidney tubules; and connective tissues are found in nerves, bones, ligaments, tendons, blood.
Conclusion
Our body, at the very core, is made up of millions of cells, which essentially come together to form tissues to perform various body functions. The formation of tissues has helped to manage the workload of individual cells, as now, every tissue has its function. As they became more organized and form organs and organ systems, multicellular organisms eventually got higher efficiency and higher survival rates.
So, as an active learners, it is our responsibility to understand how our bodywork internally, so that we can find much better ways to maintain our body at the root level to lead a healthy life.
References
- https://synapse.koreamed.org/articles/1142704
- https://aap.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1902/jop.1994.65.10.929