Discussion Prompt Part 1: Discuss the Morphology of cells and the factor it play in general function and structure. Also, choose a condition from the following case studies: ventricular hypertrophy, Retinoblastoma, ADHD, and Poisoning (Week 1 Case Study Details). You may work in small groups of up to 3 students if desired.

Morphology of cells and the factor it plays in general function and structure

According to Weinharrdt et al. (2019), cell morphology describes the size, form, structure, and shape of cells. Cellular morphogenesis plays a critical role in development and is strongly influenced by the micro-environment of the cell and the response to the topographical and biophysical cues that are controlled by mechano-response, mechano-transduction, and mechano-sensing. When cells are separated from multicellular structures and cultured into monolayers, their morphology changes from, for example, spherical to elongated spindle-like shapes. Morphology plays an important role in the diagnosis of diseases such as cancer. Normal cells have ellipsoid, regular shapes, while cancer cells are often contoured and irregular. Cell morphology is shown to play a part in cell motility and, consequently, tumor invasiveness.

Difference between various cells and the role these cells play in ventricular hypertrophy, retinoblastoma

The microscopic and gross appearances of retinoblastoma are the same in sporadic and hereditary types. Viable tumor cells under the microscope show cells are located near blood vessels, while necrosis zones are found in avascular areas. Both the differentiated and undifferentiated elements may also be present. The undifferentiated elements appear as collections of hyperchromatic nuclei round cells which are small in cells; the differentiated elements include featurettes, Homer Wright rosettes, and Flexner-Wintersteiner rosettes from photoreceptor differentiation (Busch et al., 2015).

LVH results from an increase in cell size and protein synthesis as well as cardiac progenitor cell proliferation and an influx of cells derived from the bone marrow developing in cardiomyocytes. Hypertrophy, including the physiological type, is a result of pre-existing myocyte growth and also from an increased number of new cardiomyocytes (Marketou et al., 2016)

References

Busch, M., Philippeit, C., Weise, A., & Dünker, N. (2015). Re-characterization of established human retinoblastoma cell lines. Histochemistry and cell biology, 143(3), 325-338.

Marketou, M. E., Parthenakis, F., & Vardas, P. E. (2016). Pathological Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Stem Cells: Current Evidence and New Perspectives. Stem Cells International, 2016, 5720758. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/5720758