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Do Animal Cells Have Cytoplasm:Why,How And Detailed Insights

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The cytoplasm is the non-nuclear substance of protoplasm within the animal cells. As the cytoplasm is very crucial for cellular activities, here we try to find out the answer of do animal cells have cytoplasm or not.

The cytoplasm is the core part of a cell, consisting of cytosol, organelles and inclusions. Every micro and macro bio molecule, inorganic compounds float within cytoplasm. Every cellular activity is highly dependent on it. So as per the basic requirement of a cell, all animal cells have cytoplasm inside their plasma membrane.

The cytoplasm also contains various enzymes, necessary for biochemical reactions. It moves particles from one side to another side of the cell, and stimulates signaling pathways. It also protects the cell by acting as a buffer.

Features Of Cytoplasm

Cytoplasm performs several kinds of activities within a cell. Let’s have a closer look at some common features of cytoplasm.

  • Cytoplasm is basically made up of 80% – 85% of water substance. It also composed proteins molecules(10%-15%), lipids substances(2%-4%), inorganic salts and polysaccharides.
  • All the cellular organelles such as mitochondria, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, vacuoles, lysosome, etc embed within the cytoplasm. 
  • Cytoplasm also plays a notable role in breakdown of wastes, various cytoplasmic enzymes stimulate cellular digestion procedure within cells.
  • Cytoplasm produces cytoskeleton, a filamentous system which helps to stay all the organelles inside to their correct positions.
  • Cytoplasm protects the cell as a protective buffer.

Apart from these the cytoplasm has several more features in it.

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Features of cytoplasm from Wikimedia

Do Animal Eukaryotes Have Cytoplasm?

Sir Rudolf von Kölliker, a famous Swiss anatomist, physiologist, and histologist first used the word cytoplasm In 1863. It is the main platform of all cellular biochemical activities. 

Every animal eukaryote has cytoplasm in their cells. The cytoplasm is the core substance of the cell, having all the essential bio molecules and organelles in it. The cellular functioning mechanisms are highly dependent on cytoplasm. Every living organism, including animal eukaryotes, have cytoplasm in their cells. 

The eukaryotic Cytoplasm structure is more complex than the prokaryotic structure. In a eukaryotic cell the cytoplasm is enclosed by a plasma membrane internally and distinct from the nuclear region externally.

Do Animal Cells Have Cytoplasm

Cytoplasm in animal cell from Wikipedia

To know more about eukaryotes read our article on Eukaryotic Cells Examples: Detailed Insights

Why Do Animal Cells Have Cytoplasm?

Cytoplasm is an undivided part of a cell. Every metabolic process directly or indirectly depends on the cytoplasm. Let’s find out why do animal cells have cytoplasm?

Cytoplasm consists of proteins, amino acids, lipids, salts, etc. Most cellular processes occur inside the organelles or after processing from the nucleus most of the metabolites transferred to cytoplasm. It takes part in cell division, holds and protects all over the cell. That’s why animal cells have cytoplasm.

To know more about animal cells read our article on Do Humans Have Animal Cells: Interesting FACTS

Is Cytoplasm Present In Plant And Animal Cells?

Cytoplasm is a term where ‘cyto’ means cell and ‘plasm’ means stuff, so cytoplasm means cell staff. All living organisms have cytoplasm in their cells.

Plant cells and animal cells both have cytoplasm as the interior part of their cell. In both cases the cytoplasm contains cytosol, cellular organelles and cytoplasmic inclusions. Most of the metabolic activities occur in that place.

The features of cytoplasm in plant cells and in animal cells are slightly different from each other. The most common difference is in their constitutive organelles. Where plant cells have plastids, chloroplasts the animal cells lacking those organelles in their cytoplasm.

What Are The Differences In Cytoplasm Between Animal Cells And Plant Cells?

As we previously discussed, both the animal and plant cells contain cytoplasm inside their cell membrane. In both cases most of the biochemical reactions of cells are dependent on the cytoplasm. But there are some differences in cytoplasm between the animal cells and plant cells.

  • The cytoplasm in animal cells are enclosed by only the cytoplasmic membrane. But in the case of plants the cytoplasm is enclosed by the cytoplasmic membrane and the cell wall as well. The animal cells don’t have the cell wall outside the cell.
  • The nucleus is situated at the center part of Cytoplasm in the animal cells but in case of plant cells the nucleus lies on the side of the cytoplasm.
  • Most animal cells contain lysosomes in their cytoplasm but in case of plants, the presence of lysosomes in cytoplasm is very rare.
  • The cytoplasm in animal cells have centriole which helps in cell division but in plant cells the centrosome or centriole is absent in cytoplasm.
  • The cytoplasm in animal cells contain numerous small vacuoles as storage molecules. But the plant’s cytoplasm contains a large centrally positioned, single vacuole inside the cell.
  • Mitochondria is present in cytoplasm of animal cells, numerous in numbers. In plant cells the mitochondria is fewer in number.
  • The animal cells contain cilia in most of the cases but the plant cells lack cilia.
  • The animal cells do not have plastids and chloroplasts in their cytoplasm but the cytoplasm of plant cells have them. These are one of the most important organelles in plant cells that help them in the photosynthesis process.

Despite these many differences both animal cells and plant cells have some similarities in their cytoplasm. In both of the cases the cytoplasm consists of cytoskeleton and cytosol matrix. Both the animal cells and plant cells have similar organelles in their cytoplasm. Those are include the mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes.

To know more read our article on Do Animal Cells Have A Cell Wall: Interesting FACTS

Do Animal Cells Have Free DNA In Cytoplasm?

DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid is the main genetic material, consisting of several genes, the basic unit of heredity.

The animals basically possess eukaryotic cells. An eukaryotic cell has their DNA inside the membrane bound nucleus. The cytoplasm is divided by the nuclear membrane from the nucleus of the cell. The nucleus is not a part of cytoplasm. That means it did not have free DNA lying in its cytoplasm. 

Only in case of prokaryotic cells, the cytoplasm contains free naked DNA or nucleoid in its cytoplasm area. 

Do All Animal Cells Contain Cytoplasm?

As we know, the cytoplasm is a very essential part of any cell, whether it is an animal cell or a plant cell. Every living organism must contain cytoplasm in cells. That is, all animal cells contain cytoplasm.

As a whole we can say that the cytoplasm is an undivided part of the cell of every living being. We cannot imagine the cell without the cytoplasm part whether it is an animal cell or a plant cell. We try to give the answer of do animal cells have cytoplasm or not? Hope this article will be informative to you.

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Do Animal Cells Have A Cell Wall: Interesting FACTS

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Contents

Why do animal cells not have a cell wall?                

Animal cells do not require a cell wall. Since, cell wall maintains shape and act as exoskeleton. This provide rigidity to the plants and helps them to stand upright without bones.

Animals normally has eukaryotic cells in their body, surrounded by a cell membrane (also known as plasma membrane), cell organelles and nucleus enclosed inside the nuclear membrane. In contrast to the fungal and plant eukaryotic cells, animal cells don’t have a cell wall.

Furthermore, what might occur if animal cells bears a cell wall?

Animal cells might end up with hampered exocytosis and endocytosis as cell wall is impermeable to a variety of biomolecules. The cell wall protects a cell under adverse conditions and it protects the plant cell from collapse.

If animal cells had cell wall, their movement would have been hampered. We will explain this with an example; sponges and corals that do not move and lives in colony usually form structures like cell wall.

The phylogenetic journey of plants and animals is very different, each of them has different requirements. For animals, ability to move is a noteworthy advantage. Having cells without the inflexibility of cell wall implied more prominent motility and flexibility.

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Figure: Contrasting differences between animal and plant cell. Image Credit: WikiMedia

What cells do not have a cell wall?

The animal cells usually don’t have a cell wall in place of it they have the cell membrane. Cell wall is a fundamental component which assists us with recognizing plant and animal cells.

Among prokaryotes, Mycoplasma and L-form bacteria lacks cell wall. Mycoplasma is a is the causative organism in various diseases of animals and isn’t influenced by cell wall attacking antibiotics. Mycoplasma procures cholesterol from the extra cellular environment and produce sterols to synthesize their cytoplasmic membrane.

The peripheral layer of the animal cell is the cell membrane which is also known as the plasma layer.

Read more on Nucleoside

Which cell has a cell wall?

Cell wall is found in algae, plants, fungi and bacteria.

A cell divider is a genuinely tough layer encompassing a cell, it is situated outside of the cell membrane that offers extra protection and support. Some protists and animals lack cell wall and they are only surrounded by cell membrane.

Are carbohydrates found in cell walls?

Carbohydrates are found on the cell surface of a majority of organisms along with the cell wall components.

  • Cellulose is a biopolymer made up of carbohydrate subunits (glucose) that is present in the plant cell wall.
  • Chitin is a carbohydrate polymer found in the fungal cell wall.
  • peptidoglycan (a carbohydrate polymer) and lipids that makes up the cell wall of many bacteria.

The cell wall of Archaebacteria doesn’t contain peptidoglycan. It has pseudopeptidoglycan in place of that. Proteins and some other polymers makes up peptidoglycan.

Some bacteria have an additional layer that protects them from foreign entities. This capsule of Polysaccharide assists the cells with connecting to diverse surfaces.

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Figure: Some carbohydrates (Constitutive or Anchored) are found in the cell wall of several organisms. Image Credit: Frontiers

Do animals use carbohydrates to build their cell membranes and cell walls?

Carbohydrates are the third most abundant substances present in the plasma membranes of living organisms.

These carbohydrates are found on the surface of cell membrane. These membrane carbohydrates are usually found attached  to lipids (to form glycolipids) and proteins (to form glycoproteins). These membrane carbohydrate oligomeric chains might comprise of 2–60 monosaccharide units and may acquire branched or linear structure.

Membrane carbohydrates forms specific regions that allows cellular recognition. Carbohydrates that are present on the outside surface of the cell are the carbohydrate parts of the glycolipids and glycoproteins that combinedly known as the glycocalyx (signifying “the sugar coat”).

This glycocalyx is extremely hydrophilic (attract towards water). This makes the cell more accessible to the watery micro-environment and in the cell’s capacity to get water dissolved substances.

As talked about over, the glycocalyx is additionally significant in recognition of cells as self/non-self components. Furthermore, glycocalyx is also utilized in cell-cell connections to give rise to tissues.

Do animal cells have a cell wall or cell membrane?

Animal cells do not possess a cell wall but they have a well defined cell membrane.

Animal cells are basically eukaryotic cells, encased by a plasma/cell membrane and containing a nucleus and cell organelles (both are covered by double membrane). Furthermore, the eukaryotic cells of fungi and plants possess cell wall, but animal cells don’t.

Do animal cells have a cell wall or chloroplasts?

Animal cells do not posses cell wall, nor they have chloroplasts.

Cell wall provides a regular shape to the cell. Hence, it is required by plants as plant parts are fragile and don’t have any exoskeleton and protection. As plants synthesize their own food, they need chloroplasts however as animal depend on different living beings for food, that’s why they don’t need chloroplasts.

Also Read:

Do Humans Have Animal Cells: Interesting FACTS

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Humans are composed of animal cells but only of a single specific type.

Scientifically, animal cells are the structural and functional units or essentially the building bricks of all organisms that belong to Kingdom Animalia.

They can specify and form any required tissue, organ or organism based on the genomic components.

Animal cells are eukaryotic cells(i.e cells containing a defined nucleus), surrounded only by a plasma membrane, unlike plant cells which are enclosed by both cell membrane and cell wall. The absence of the cell wall means the cells do not have a rigid or specific shape. But in contrast, this allows the cells to have different shapes and form different tissues, organs and organ systems.                                                          

Human cells are just the specific animal cells that make up humans, for ultimately they are animals as well.

Components of an animal cell:

Generally smaller than plant cells with an irregular shape due to the absence of the cell wall animal cells still come in a variety of sizes based on the organism. But similar to plant cells they have all the other major organelles characteristic of eukaryotes.

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So do humans have animal cells?

           Kingdom Animalia begins from Sponges and ends at Mammalia with humans or Homo sapiens sapiens being the most advanced. With the evolution and advancement of the organisms, there is advancement in their cellular complexity, but the main components remain the same.

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Parts of animal cell Image
Credit: Wikimedie
  • Cell membrane or the thin covering that protects cells(the thin while layer that we often peel off boiled eggs). The cell membrane allows the cell to exchange gases and also communicate with adjacent cells.
  • Nucleus and a nuclear membrane- as animal cells are eukaryotic this means the genetic material is present in a condensed form in a specific organelle i.e. the nucleus instead of floating around in the cell. The nucleus has a nuclear membrane to protect it and also the membrane itself has more important functions in protein synthesis and cell transport.
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum or simply the ER is a continuation of the nuclear membrane. They mainly function in synthesizing lipids(fatty substances).
  • Mitochondria These organelles are what ultimately break down molecules to release energy. Hence they are called the batteries or powerhouse of the cell.
  • Golgi Apparatus and Ribosomes: The ribosomes main function is to synthesize proteins that are received by the Golgi apparatus. They receive them along with lipids from the Endoplasmic Reticulum after which they are transported to their target sites.
  • Lysosomes are cell cleaners. They are enzyme filled packets that dispose of or recycle any material that is unwanted in the cell.
  • Ribosomes are simply the protein synthesis centres. These are small organelles that are often stuck to the nuclear membrane and the  ER.
  • Vacuoles are empty pockets that can beused for storing water, waste products or even food by the cell.

Most common types of animal cells:

These include the most common animal cell types that occur most frequently throughout the animal kingdom. These include

  • Skin Cells: They occur in all animalsand may have more than one layer called the dermis.
  • Muscle cells: Animal are distinguished by their ability to move. Except in the case of unicellular or sedentary (those that do not move)organisms, most animals have muscle cells to help in movement. They also make up
  • some important organs like the heart.
  • Blood cells or corpuscles are the cellular components present in most animal vascular systems.
  • Nerve cells Animal having even the simplest nervous systems have a collection of nerve cells which may just form a ganglion.
  • Fat cells Most animals use fat cells present to store food materials for hibernation or morphing.
Some specialized  animal cells present in lower animals:
  • Choanocyte: Specialised cells in sponges have a flagellum that helps to control the movement and flow of water throughout the cavity of the organism.
  • Cnidocytes: Found in cnidarian like jellyfish and hydra these cells are also called stinging cells. They contain organelles called nematocysts – consisting of a coiled thread occasionally with barbs. These cells allow the animal to sting and immobilize prey with poison. (Box jellyfish are one of the most venomous animals in the world)
  • Flame Cells: Found specifically in phylum Ctenophora or simply what we call flatworms(most intestinal parasites belong to this category). Since they are not developed flame cells in these animals act as kidneys to filter toxins and waste from the circulating fluid.

How many animal cells does a human have?

Technically speaking humans have only one type of cell i.e the human genomic cell.

Humans are the most complex organism created in nature, consisting of trillions of cells. But they all have the same genomic constituency containing  3 million base pairs. All the cells are grouped according to function and organs. But they are all the same type of animal cell i.e. a human cell.

Though the cell genomic content is the same the all the cells do not have the same structure or function.

The cells have been differentiated in foetal form and they form different tissues, organs and organ systems.
  • Neurons: Or nerve cells is the basic unit of the nervous system that controls all bodily functions in the body. These cells carry messages from the brain to all the organs and muscles with the help of small electro-chemical signals.
  • Muscle Cells: Comprising of three types(smooth, cardiac and skeletal) these cells form muscles that make movement possible. Cardiac muscles form the heart and its walls, which allows it to rapidly pump blood.It is because these cells are made up of fibres that allow contraction.
  • Red Blood Cells: Making up the corpuscular part of blood, these cells have a biconcave discoid shape. The main function of RBCs is to transport oxygen and carbon dioxide to and fro from the lungs. For this purpose, RBCs have an iron component called Haemoglobin that turns red on binding with oxygen giving the red colour;  hence the name.
  • Leucocytes: Typically called White Blood Cells or WBCs, they make up the immune system in humans. Found in both the blood and the lymphatic system, these cells help us fight against infectious diseases and foreign particles(like allergens).

    They are further divided into:

  • Neutrophils
  • Eosinophils
  • Basophils
  • Monocyte
  • Lymphocytes

Lymphocytes can also be of 3 types– T Cells, B cells and Natural Killer Cells.

  • Nephrons: These are specialized cells that are found in Kidneys. They look like a sieve with a large tube and remove the excess salts, waster products and unnecessary materials from the blood.
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A human nephron
Image credit: Wikimedia
Do all living things have animal cells?

Animal cells are specific to Kingdom Animalia.

All animals ranging from sponges to mammals are composed of animal cells. These cells can form a simple organism or can form tissues, organs and systems i.e more complex. Some cells may be specifically produced by a certain animal to adapt to its environment.

So animal cells in scientific terms are limited to animals only. Plant cells that make up the major portion of the Earth’s biomass are vastly different in composition. The most important difference is the presence of cell walls and chlorophyll or other pigment-containing organelles. Cell walls made up of polysaccharides are present in all organisms that we consider plants- even unicellular yeast. The cell wall is what gives plant cells their rigidity and the ability to last through a long time(the very reason wood furniture is so long-lasting).

    The second biggest difference is the presence of chlorophyll. This is a pigment found in a plant-specific organelle called – CHLOROPLAST. This pigment allows plants to photosynthesize i.e to produce their food in the form of simple sugar(hence the name Autotrophs). Chlorophyll uses light energy as a catalyst and converts atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and water to Glucose and oxygen.

choloroplast
Structure of a chloroplast
Image credit: Wikimedia
What do animal cells have that humans don’t?

Conditionally as humans are animals, they do not contain an excess or deficit in organelles when compared to a normal animal cell.

Humans are considered as higher beings but being classified in kingdom Animalia means they are animals. Under a microscope, a cell taken from a random animal and one taken from human tissue will not have much difference. This characteristic is what allows scientists to discover how closely one animal species or genus is related to another.

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