Unspecialized Cells Essay

In multicellular organisms, the cells that make up their respective organisms have different structures depending on their function. The process in which cells get specialized is known as differentiation. Unspecialized cells, known as stem cells, can be called upon to replace damaged or aging tissues, or create new tissue for growth.
An example of specialization can be found with blood cells. Every blood cell originates from the bone marrow, starting as a unspecialized stem cell known as a multipotential hematopoietic stem cell; which means that it has many possibilities to become, and also that it’s a blood stem cell. This stem cell can either branch off into the lymphoid field, or the myeloid field, as either a common lymphoid progenitor or a common myeloid progenitor of their respective fields. A common lymphoid progenitor can become a natural killer cell, ending its specialization there as a crucial part of the immune system, or become a small lymphocyte. The small lymphocyte may become a T lymphocyte, known also as a T cell, which can specialize into more specific T cells by becoming, for example, helper T cells or even a memory T cell; the latter of which is imperative in making vaccines effective. Yet, a small lymphocyte may also be a B lymphocyte cell, which find themselves as the war factories during a battle against disease; producing antibodies that can lock onto foreign cells like jigsaw pieces, disabling them in action. Yet, only once activated by a helper T cell will they become plasma cells,
A common myeloid progenitor can become erythrocytes, which is commonly known as the red blood cell. Rather than becoming a red blood cell, it can also become a macrophage, or a neutrophil. Both cells are “swallowing cells”, as they literally ingests foreign particles or cell. This just goes to show the depth of specialization a cell can endure, yet this is only a single system of