-
Asked by finn545 to Hitesh, Hywel, Mae, Nik, Tiffany on 14 Jun 2012.
-
Tiffany Taylor answered on 14 Jun 2012:
I love this question! I have studied this a lot. It depends what type of cells you’re talking about. If you’re taking about human cells, well they need to move for things such as healing wounds, or fighting disease (your immune cells need to move), and when you’re growing as a baby inside your mum’s tum, cells are moving around to get to the right place. These cells kind of move by inching along a surface, they push all their cell goo to the front of the cell, then pull their back end to follow. But human cells can also swim, slowly if you’re a normal cell, but fast if you’re a sperm!
Bacteria (my speciality) move in different ways. They are really good at swimming and have a thing like a tail which they use for this. They are also able to crawl along surfaces using little sticky hair like things which stick out of the cell and pull the cell along. Finally, if they’re really stuck, they can squirt out a slippery goo which they can slide along to get to where they need to go.
Cells can also pick up on chemicals in the environment, good ones like food and bad ones like toxins. That means they can also decide which direction is good to move in.
Bet you didn’t know cells were so athletic!
-
-
Mae Woods answered on 14 Jun 2012:
Hello finn545.
Cells can move in different ways. Some cells roll, other cells crawl and some cells have a motor!
Rolling cells probably roll because there is enough friction (resistance to movement) so that they don’t slide. They also need angular velocity (speed around the centre of the cell). Blood cells often roll along the walls of blood vessels
Crawling cells have a front and a back. The front has an arm like extension that grows and grabs (adheres) on to the surface (the surface is like a climbing frame made out of proteins). When it grabs onto the surface, it pulls the rest of its body forward. The cell uses this grabbing and pulling process to travel long distances across the body. Neural Crest cells move in this way and these are the cells I am working with.
Some cells have a tail that spins around called a flagellum. This tail makes constant beats to move the cell through a fluid. Bacteria cells move in this way and this method of movement can occur in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
Cells can move in groups and in the example of crawling cells, they can move together in a sheet like a flock of birds to reach an area they want to get to. The movement of cells is called cell migration and occurs in wound healing, cancer and development.
Comments