DESCRIPTION:
“Tissues of the Body”
Played to the music of “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen


There are four types of tissues,
from our heads down to our toes.
Epithelium, nervous, connective,
muscle - here we go!

Epithelium, hey, there are lots of kinds.
They are grouped by layers and shape.
Simple has one, stratified has more -
especially on the heels of an ape!

Simple squamous is the first
single layer - flat and thin.
So things can diffuse in glomeruli
and in the lungs’ alveoli.
Hey! That’s how air gets through,
but doesn’t protect much.

Simple cuboidal secretes and absorbs
in tubules of the kidney.
Simple columnar lines your small bronchi
to keep your airway clean.

It’s columnar, pseudostratified
with mucus it secretes
lining the airway to get rid of dust,
up the cilia sweep.

Stratified cells protect.
Squamous is in your cheek
and also in your skin, so it’s not too thin.
They’re flattened on the top.
Hey - they may be keratinized.
They’re cuboidal at the base.

Cuboidal lines the ducts
of the sweat and mammary glands.
Columnar does that too
in the urethra of the male.

There is plenty of urine in the bladder
if transitional is doing its job.
You can stretch it, it’ll hold it,
it’ll change its shape. It won’t let water through!

Now it’s muscles, yes, muscle tissue
helps you stand on your own two feet.
Smooth, skeletal, and cardiac -
which keeps your body’s beat.

No striations make it smooth.
Only a single nucleus -
you’ve got it in your gut. It moves food along,
but it’s out of your control.
Hey! Cardiac is too.
They’re both involuntary.

Cardiac automatically excites itself.
It pumps our blood along!
Branching and striated are these cells;
intercalated discs connect them all.

Are you ready, hey, are you ready to move?
Striated skeletal’s voluntary.
Bones and skin these muscles grip
multinuclearly.

Nervous controls it all.
Impulses they conduct
They live a long time, but they don’t divide,
so you better treat them well.
Hey, neuroglia’s here
to support and insulate.


Dendrites bring the message in
toward the body of the neuron.
Axons move the impulse away,
and, just like that, they’re gone!

At the terminal there are vesicles
where neurotransmitters release.
They go across the synaptic cleft
where they are received.

Let’s connect it all!
There’s extracellular matrix
of ground substance and some fibers
with relatively few cells.
Hey, in your embryo,
it develops from mesenchyme.

Blood keep us alive.
Fluid but no fibers -
it carries oxygen
and some CO2.

There are plenty of cells within the blood
to protect and keep you strong.
Leukocytes, erythrocytes
thrombocytes - they help you clot!

Proper yeah, connective tissue -
of each type, there are three.
Areolar, reticular and adipose -
they’re loose and have low density.

with thick collagen fibers.
There’s regular and irregular
and elastic too.
Hey, it’s a binding tissue;
it resists tension.

Cartilage resists compression,
providing cushion and support.
Made of chondrocytes and collagen,
elastin helps out too.

Fibrocartilage, hey, forms the discs in your spine.
Epiglottis is elastic.
Hyaline makes your trachea and larynx
and keeps your joints slick.

There are two types of bone -
spongy or compact.
They are calcified and vascularized
and made of osteocytes.
They support you through
compression and tension.

How do you think you could get along
without these great tissues?
If you were missing any of them,
you’d have some serious issues.

Did you learn it? Do you know it now?
Now that our lesson’s complete?
If not, or you need to review,
JUST HIT REPEAT!






References
Marieb, E., Wilhelm, P., & Mallatt, J. (2012). Tissues. In Human Anatomy (6th ed., pp. 64-100).
Boston: Benjamin Cummings.