All About Epithelial Cells

Epithelial cells are some of the most prolific tissue cells out there. They come in all shapes and sizes and they can be found almost anywhere on the body. Most people may know that epithelial cells or epithelial tissue is your skin, but it is present in many other places such as the alveoli (gas exchange area of lungs), lining of most organs including stomach, kidney, and pancreas, and even in salivary glands and bile ducts. They also come in an array of forms depending on where they are located, classified by their shape. There are four shapes, cubodial, squamous, columnar, and ciliated columnar(refer to picture below). These cells vary a little bit from eukaryotic cells, considering epithelial cells include many more means of connection between cells. They have things called tight junction adherens, desmosomes, and gap junctions that keep these cells together. Another difference is the capillaries that usually reside inside of the cell, do not within epithelial cells. 

Epithelial cells have many functions such as protecting body, experiencing senses (sensory receptors), transporting materials, absorbing nutrients, secreting wastes, hormones, and lubricant, and producing hormones. This cell has so many aspects to it, with its multiple shapes sizes and functions, that this post will just touch the surface of the topic of epithelial cells.

Epithelial cells of the stomach lining