Flashcards: Human cells

Osteoblast (from the Greek combining forms for "bone", ὀστέο-, osteo- and βλαστάνω, blastanō "germinate") are cells with a single nucleus that synthesize bone.

A myofibroblast is a cell that is in between a fibroblast and a smooth muscle cell in phenotype.

Parvocellular neurosecretory cells are small neurons within paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus.

Chondrocytes (from Greek χόνδρος, chondros = cartilage + κύτος, kytos = cell) are the only cells found in healthy cartilage.

There are many different types of cell in the human body.

Monocytes are a type of white blood cell, or leukocyte.

Cardiac muscle cells or cardiomyocytes (also known as myocardiocytes or cardiac myocytes) are the muscle cells (myocytes) that make up the cardiac muscle.

Club cells, also known as bronchiolar exocrine cells, and originally known as Clara cells (see nomenclature section), are dome-shaped cells with short microvilli, found in the small airways (bronchioles) of the lungs.

The interstitial cell of Cajal (ICC) is a type of interstitial cell found in the gastrointestinal tract.

Parietal cells (also known as oxyntic or delomorphous cells), are the epithelial cells that secrete hydrochloric acid (HCl) and intrinsic factor.

Astrocytes (Astro from Greek astron = star and cyte from Greek "kyttaron" = cell), also known collectively as astroglia, are characteristic star-shaped glial cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Hepatic stellate cells (here HSC), also known as perisinusoidal cells or Ito cells (earlier lipocytes or fat-storing cells), are pericytes found in the perisinusoidal space of the liver, also known as the space of Disse (a small area between the sinusoids and hepatocytes).

A lymphocyte is one of the subtypes of white blood cell in a vertebrate's immune system.

Macrophages (Greek: big eaters, from Greek μακρος (makros) = large, φαγειν (phagein) = to eat) are a type of white blood cell that engulfs and digests cellular debris, foreign substances, microbes, cancer cells, and anything else that does not have the types of proteins specific of healthy body cells on its surface in a process called phagocytosis.

Natural killer cells or NK cells are a type of cytotoxic lymphocyte critical to the innate immune system.

Platelets, also called thrombocytes (thromb- + -cyte, "blood clot cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to stop bleeding by clumping and clotting blood vessel injuries.

Red blood cells (RBCs), also called erythrocytes, are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate organism's principal means of delivering oxygen (O2) to the body tissues—via blood flow through the circulatory system.

A spermatozoon (pronounced /ˌspɜːrmætəˈzoʊən/, alternate spelling spermatozoön; plural spermatozoa; from Ancient Greek: σπέρμα "seed" and Ancient Greek: ζῷον "living being") is a motile sperm cell, or moving form of the haploid cell that is the male gamete.

White blood cells (WBCs), also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders.

Adipocytes, also known as lipocytes and fat cells, are the cells that primarily compose adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells (also known as accessory cells) of the mammalian immune system.

A mast cell (also known as a mastocyte or a labrocyte) is a type of white blood cell.

An osteoclast (from the Greek words for "bone" (ὀστέον), and "broken" (κλαστός)) is a type of bone cell that breaks down bone tissue.

Reticulocytes are immature red blood cells, typically composing about 1% of the red blood cells in the human body.

A cytotoxic T cell (also known as TC, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, CTL, T-killer cell, cytolytic T cell, CD8+ T-cell or killer T cell) is a T lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) that kills cancer cells, cells that are infected (particularly with viruses), or cells that are damaged in other ways.

Extraglomerular mesangial cells (also known as Lacis cells, Goormaghtigh cells, or Polkissen cells) are light-staining pericytes in the kidney found outside the glomerulus, near the vascular pole.

A goblet cell is a glandular, modified simple columnar epithelial cell whose function is to secrete gel-forming mucins, the major components of mucus.

Podocytes are cells in the Bowman's capsule in the kidneys that wrap around capillaries of the glomerulus.

A hepatocyte is a cell of the main parenchymal tissue of the liver.

An osteocyte, a star-shaped type of bone cell, is the most commonly found cell in mature bone tissue, and can live as long as the organism itself.

Pericytes are contractile cells that wrap around the endothelial cells of capillaries and venules throughout the body.

Melanocytes (/məˈlænəˌsaɪt, -noʊ-/ or /ˈmɛlənəˌsaɪt, -noʊ-/) are melanin-producing cells located in the bottom layer (the stratum basale) of the skin's epidermis, the middle layer of the eye (the uvea), the inner ear, meninges, bones, and heart.

Paneth cells, along with goblet cells, enterocytes, and enteroendocrine cells, represent the principal cell types of the epithelium of the small intestine.

Plasma cells, also called plasma B cells, plasmocytes, plasmacytes, or effector B cells, are white blood cells that secrete large volumes of antibodies.

A Sertoli cell (a kind of sustentacular cell) is a "nurse" cell of the testicles that is part of a seminiferous tubule and helps in the process of spermatogenesis; that is, the production of sperm.

Kupffer cells, also known as stellate macrophages and Kupffer-Browicz cells, are specialized macrophages located in the liver, lining the walls of the sinusoids that form part of the mononuclear phagocyte system.

A megakaryocyte (mega- + karyo- + -cyte, "large-nucleus cell") is a large bone marrow cell with a lobulated nucleus responsible for the production of blood thrombocytes (platelets), which are necessary for normal blood clotting.

Hair cells are the sensory receptors of both the auditory system and the vestibular system in the ears of all vertebrates.

Follicular cells (also called thyroid epithelial cells or thyrocytes) are cells in the thyroid gland that are responsible for the production and secretion of thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).

The juxtaglomerular cells (JG cells, or granular cells) are cells in the kidney that synthesize, store, and secrete the enzyme renin.

Oligodendrocytes (from Greek, meaning cells with a few branches), or oligodendroglia (Greek, few tree glue), are a type of neuroglia.

Leydig cells, also known as interstitial cells of Leydig, are found adjacent to the seminiferous tubules in the testicle.

Muscle spindles are sensory receptors within the belly of a muscle that primarily detect changes in the length of this muscle.

Alveolar cells, or pneumocytes, are cells lining the alveoli of the lungs.

‘’’Enterochromaffin (EC) cells’’’ (also known as “Kulchitsky cells”), are a type of enteroendocrine and neuroendocrine cell.

Chromaffin cells, also pheochromocytes, are neuroendocrine cells found mostly in the medulla of the adrenal glands (located above the kidneys) in mammals.

Myosatellite cells or satellite cells are small multipotent cells with virtually no cytoplasm found in mature muscle.

A gastric chief cell (or peptic cell, or gastric zymogenic cell) is a type of cell in the stomach that releases pepsinogen and gastric lipase and is the cell responsible for secretion of chymosin in ruminants.

Basophilia is a condition where the basophil quantity is abnormally elevated (more than 1010 basophils per liter of blood).

A bipolar cell is a type of neuron which has two extensions.

Enterochromaffin-like cells or ECL cells are a type of neuroendocrine cells found in the gastric glands of the gastric mucosa beneath the epithelium, in particular in the vicinity of parietal cells, that aid in the production of gastric acid via the release of histamine.

S cells are cells which release secretin, found in the jejunum and duodenum.

Gonadotropic cells are endocrine cells in the anterior pituitary that produce the gonadotropins, such as the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).

Corticotropes (or corticotrophs) are basophilic cells in the anterior pituitary that produce melanocyte-stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and lipotropin.

In the parathyroid gland, the parathyroid oxyphil cell is larger and lighter staining than the parathyroid chief cell.

Thyrotropes (also called thyrotrophs) are endocrine cells in the anterior pituitary which produce thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in response to thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH).

Cigar cells (also referred to as pencil cells) are red blood cells that are cigar or pencil shaped on Peripheral blood smear.

Foveolar cells or surface mucous cells are mucus-producing cells which cover the inside of the stomach, protecting it from the corrosive nature of gastric acid.

Microfold cells (or M cells) are found in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) of the Peyer's patches and in the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) of other parts of the gastrointestinal tract.

Natural killer T (NKT) cells are a heterogeneous group of T cells that share properties of both T cells and natural killer cells.

Neutrophil (also known as neutrophils or occasionally neutrocytes) are the most abundant type of granulocytes and the most abundant (40% to 75%) type of white blood cells in most mammals.

Intraglomerular mesangial cells are specialized pericytes located among the glomerular capillaries within a renal corpuscle of a kidney.

Parafollicular cells (also called C cells) are neuroendocrine cells in the thyroid which primary function is to secrete calcitonin.

A cementoblast is a biological cell that forms from the follicular cells around the root of a tooth, and whose biological function is cementogenesis, which is the formation of cementum (hard tissue that covers the tooth root).

A basophil is a type of white blood cell.

Eosinophils, sometimes called eosinophiles or, less commonly, acidophils, are a variety of white blood cells and one of the immune system components responsible for combating multicellular parasites and certain infections in vertebrates.

Parathyroid chief cells (also called parathyroid principal cells or simply parathyroid cells) are one of the two cell types of the parathyroid glands, along with oxyphil cells.

The diad is a structure in the cardiac myocyte located at the sarcomere Z-line.

Tendon cells, or tenocytes, are elongated fibroblast type cells.

Cholangiocytes are the epithelial cells of the bile duct.

A somatomammotroph or somatomammotrophic cell, also known as a somatolactotroph or somatolactotrophic cell, is a type of cell of the anterior pituitary gland that produces both somatotropin (growth hormone) and prolactin.

Prolactin cell (also known as epsilon acidophil, lactotrope, lactotropic cell, lactotroph, mammatroph, mammotroph) is a cell in the anterior pituitary which produces prolactin in response to hormonal signals including dopamine which is inhibitory and thyrotropin-releasing hormone which is stimulatory.

Somatotropes (from the Greek sōmat meaning "body" and trophē meaning "nourishment; development") are cells in the anterior pituitary that produce growth hormone.

Ameloblasts are cells present only during tooth development that deposit tooth enamel, which is the hard outermost layer of the tooth forming the surface of the crown.

Stellate cells are any cells that have a star-like shape formed by dendritic processes radiating from the cell body.

Magnocellular neurosecretory cells are large neuroendocrine cells within the supraoptic nucleus and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus.

A cholecystocyte is an epithelial cell found in the gallbladder.