What is Tissue?

A tissue, in biology, is defined as a group of cells that possess a similar structure and perform a specific function. The word tissue originates from French, which means “to weave.”

Tissues Types

In animals, there are 4 types of tissues, namely:

• Muscle tissue (cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscle tissues)
• Connective tissue (cartilage, blood, bone)
• Nervous tissue (neurons and neuroglia)
• Epithelial tissue (simple epithelium, simple cuboidal, simple columnar epithelium, etc)

Plants have their own set of tissues, namely:

• Dermal Tissues (epidermal cells, stomata, trichomes)
• Ground tissues (Collenchyma, parenchyma, sclerenchyma)
• Vascular tissue (Vessel elements, tracheids, companion cells and sieve tubes)

Concept of Tissues

The concept of tissues can be traced back to 1801 when it was introduced by Xavier Bichat, a French anatomist and pathologist. He had proposed that tissues are a central element in human anatomy, concluding that organs are essentially a collection of distinct tissues.

Main Article: Tissues – An Overview of Tissues, its Types and Functions

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Further Reading:

• Animal Tissue- Structure and Types of Animal Tissue
• Plant tissue | Types Of Plant Tissue System & Their Function
• What Is A Cell? – Definition, Structure, Types, Functions