Biology HL

2.1

Cell Theory

The cell theory states that:

Living organisms are composed of cells. All living organisms are

composed of one or more cells (multicellular many cells;
unicellular one cell).
Cells are the smallest unit of life. They are the smallest structures
capable of surviving on their own.
Cells come from pre-existing cells. They cannot be created from
non-living material.

It has taken several hundred years of research to formulate this modern cell theory, and has
amassed enormous credibility largely through the use of the microscope. Robert Hooke first
described cells in 1665 while observing cork with a microscope. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
observed the first living cells a few years later. The second principle continues to gain support
today as there has not been a single living entity found that is not made of at least one cell.
Some very famous scientists have performed experiments to support the last principle. For
example, Louis Pasteur in the 1860s showed that living organisms would not spontaneously
reappear in a chicken broth after sterilising it by boiling. Only after exposure to pre-existing cells
was life able to reestablish itself in the sterilised chicken broth.
All organisms exist in either a unicellular or multicellular form, and carry out all the functions of
life. These functions include:
Metabolism: all the chemical reactions that occur within an
organism, including respiration to release energy.
Growth: irreversible increase in size of the organism (may be
limited but is always evident in one way or another)
Reproduction: producing offspring, either asexually or sexually
(involves hereditary molecules that can be passed to offspring)
Response / Sensitivity: perceiving and responding to changes
in the environment imperative to the survival of the organism.
Homeostasis: maintaining a (fairly) constant, tolerable internal
environment, e.g. temperature, pH.
Nutrition: Obtaining food to provide the energy and materials
for growth. This involves providing a source of compounds with
many chemical bonds which can be broken to provide the
organism with the energy and nutrients necessary to maintain
life.
Movement
Cells are made up of a number of different subunits. These subunits are often of a particular
size, but are all microscopically small. In most cases, microscopes with high magnification and
resolution are needed to observe cells and especially their subunits.
Cells are relatively large, and then in decreasing size order it is:
Cells! !

Organelles! !

Bacteria!

Viruses!
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Membranes! !

Molecules

Biology HL
2.1

Cell Theory

Most cells (eukaryotic cells) are up to 100 m in size (length). Organelles are up to 10 m in
size. Bacteria are up to 1 m. Viruses are up to 100 nm. Membranes are 10 nm thick, and
molecules are near 1 nm.
If you want to calculate the actual size of a specimen seen with a microscope, you need to know
the diameter of the microscopes field of vision. This may be calculated with a special
micrometer or with a simple ruler on a light microscope. The size of the specimen can then be
calculated in the field.
Drawings and photographs are often enlarged. To calculate the magnification, you use the
formula:!
!
Magnification = size of image size of specimen.
Scale bars are often used with a micrograph or drawing so that actual size can be determined.
The surface to area volume ratio limits the sizes of cells this is why cells do not grow to larger
sizes than 100 m. In the cell, the rate of heat and waste production and the rate of resource
consumption depend on its volume (they are functions of its volume). Most of the chemical
reactions occur in the interior of the cell and its size affects the rate of these reactions. The
surface of the cell, the membrane, controls what materials move in and out of the cell. The
surface area affects the rate at which particles can enter and exit the cell, whereas the volume
affects the rate at which material is made or used within the cell, hence the chemical activity per
unit time. Cells with more surface area per unit volume are able to move more materials in and
out of the cell, for each unit volume of the cell.
As the length of an object such as a cells increases, the surface area also increases but at a
much slower rate than the volume. This is because the surface area increases by a factor
calculated by squaring the radius, but the volume increases by a factor calculated by cubing the
radius, so is therefore much larger.
This means that a large cell has relatively less surface area to bring in needed materials and to
rid the cell of waste than a small cell this means that poisonous waste materials are likely to
accumulate within larger cells, and needed substances wont be able to enter the cell fast
enough to fuel the metabolic reactions within the cell. Because of this, cells are limited as to the
size they can attain and still be able to carry out the functions of life. Thus animals do not have
larger cells compared to other organisms they simply have more cells.
Cells that do happen to be larger than normal in size have modifications that allow them to
continue to function efficiently. This is usually a shape change such as from spherical (low
surface area to volume ratio) to long and thin (high surface area to volume ratio). Some cells
also have infoldings or outfoldings to increase their surface area to volume ratio.
Multicellular organisms show emergent properties arising from interaction between component
parts the whole organism is greater than the sum of its parts. Cells form tissues (aggregations
of cells of similar type and function), tissues form organs, organs form organ systems and organ
systems form multicellular organisms. The whole organism is greater than the sum of its parts,
for example lungs are made of many cells, but by themselves, the cells are not much use. It is
many cells working as a single unit that allows the lungs to perform their function.
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Biology HL
2.1

Cell Theory

Every cell in a multicellular organism contains all the genes of that organism. However, the
genes that are activated vary from cell to cell. This is the reason why there are many different
types of cell in the human body (e.g. the cells in eyes are different to those in hair) there are
different genes activated in different cells. Keratin, for example, is the protein which makes up
hair and nails. The gene that produces keratin will, therefore, be active in hair and nail cells, but
not in eye cells.
Genes encode for proteins and the proteins affect the cells structure and function so that cells
can specialise (develop in different ways).
The lung cells are an example of differentiation where a cell carries out specialised functions
by expressing some of its genes but not others. This is regulated mostly during transcription.
It is an advantage that multicellular organisms cells can differentiate it makes the organism
more efficient, unlike unicellular organisms where all functions must be carried out within that
single cell.
Stem cells retain the capacity to divide and have the ability to differentiate along different
pathways. They can produce many different cells by cell division and the process of
differentiation.
This is in contrast to some cells that have a greatly, or even completely, diminished ability to
reproduce once they have become specialised nerve and muscle cells being prime examples.
Adult humans have stem cells in the tissues in their bodies that need to be frequently replaced,
such as the skin (epithelial cells). This allows the possibility of growth or the replacement of
damaged or dead cells. The offspring of these rapidly reproducing cells then differentiate into
the same cell type as the parent.
Stem cells have the ability to produce a wide range of cells they are pluripotent. For example,
one type of stem cell in the bone marrow produce a variety of red and white blood cells. Plants
contain stem cells in regions of meristematic tissue (which occur near root and stem tips and
are composed of rapidly reproducing cells that produce new cells capable of becoming various
types of tissue within the root or stem1).
When stem cells divide to form a specific type of tissue, they also produce some cells that
remain as stem cells. This allows for the continual production of a particular type of tissue.
Stem cells cannot be distinguished by their appearance, however. The can only be isolated from
other cells on the basis of their behaviour.
Bone marrow transplants are one of the many therapeutic uses of stem cells. Stem cells found
in the bone marrow give rise to the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets in the body (it
1

Gardeners take advantage of these cells when they take cuttings from stems or roots and use them to produce
new plants.
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Biology HL
2.1

Cell Theory

should be noted that bone marrow stem cells only go on to produce these cells). These stem
cells can be used in bone marrow transplants to treat people who have certain types of cancer,
e.g. leukaemia.
When a patient has cancer and is given high doses of chemotherapy, the chemotherapy kills the
cancer cells but also the normal cells in the bone marrow. This means that the patient cannot
produce blood cells, so before the patient is treated with chemotherapy, they can undergo a
bone marrow harvest in which stem cells are removed from the bone marrow by using a needle
which is inserted into the pelvis (hip bone).
Alternatively, if stem cells from the patient cannot be used, they can be harvested from a
matching donor. After the chemotherapy treatment, the patient will have a bone marrow
transplant in which the stem cells are transplanted back into the patient via a drip, usually via a
vein in the chest or the arm. These transplanted cells with then find their way back to the bone
marrow and start to produce healthy blood cells in the patient. Therefore the therapeutic use of
stem cells in bone marrow transplants is very important as it allows some patients with cancer to
undergo high chemotherapy treatment. Without this therapeutic use of stem cells, patients
would only be able to take low doses of chemotherapy which could lower their chances of curing
the disease.
Stem cells can also be therapeutically cloned to replace brain cells. Since Parkinsons disease
and Alzheimers disease are caused by loss of brain cells, it is hoped that by implanting stem
cells, some of the brain cells could be replaced, relieving the diseases symptoms.
Certain forms of diabetes deplete the pancreas of essential cells and it is hoped that a stem cell
implant in the organ could have positive effects.

Choice of stem cells

Embryonic stem cells
+ Limitless self-renewal generates lots of cells
+ Ability to differentiate into all cell types to treat diseases
Requires the destruction of an embryo ethical issues
Patients require drugs (immunosuppressants) so they dont reject the cells.

Adult stem cells

+ No ethical issues
+ No issues of immune rejection derived from patients own cells
Limited number of cell types can be regenerated
Very expensive at it is specific to each patient
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