The
basic living unit of the body is the cell. Each organ is an aggregate of many
different cells held together by intercellular supporting structures. Each type
of cell is specially adapted to perform one or a few particular function. For
instance, the red blood cells, numbering 25 trillion in each human being,
transport oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Although the red cells are most
abundant of any single type of cell in the body, there are about 75 trillion
additional cells of other types that perform functions different from those of
the red cell. The entire body, then contain about 100 trillion cells.

Although the many cells of the body often differ
markedly from one another, all them have certain basic characteristic that are
alike. For instance, in all cells, oxygen reacts with carbohydrates, fat, and
protein to release the energy required for cell function. Further, the general
chemical mechanisms for changing nutrients into energy are basically the same
in all cells, and all cells deliver end products of their chemical reactions
into the surrounding fluids. Almost all cells also have the ability to
reproduce additional cells of their own kind. Fortunately, when cells of a
particular type are destroyed from one cause or another, the remaining cells of
this type usually generate new cells until the supply is replenished.
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