The Role of Intercellular Adhesion Molecules essays

The Role of Intercellular Adhesion Molecules essays This paper reports studies and findings of the intercellular adhesion molecule in relationship to the common cold virus and rheumatic diseases. The role of the cell and intercellular adhesion molecules is also examined. Cell-cell adhesion is required at all stages of development and is of importance in the establishment and maintenance of the organized structure and function of multicellular organisms. The cell is the basic unit that all living things are composed of. As an individual unit the cell is capable of digesting its own nutrients, providing its own energy, and replicating itself in order to produce future generations. Cooperative groups of similar cells form tissues, and a cooperation between tissues in turn, forms organs, the functional units of an organism (Hunter et al.,1996). Intercellular adhesion brings cells together to help perform special needs (Encyclopedia Britannica). The simplest examples of the ability of cells to recognize and adhere to one another come from organisms that live much of their lives as single cells but form a multicellular aggregate or gather, for a specific purpose (Hunter and others 1996). For example, when starved, several types of single-cell organisms band together to develop the specialized cells needed for reproduction (Hunter et al.,1996). In this process, individual cells at the center of the developing aggregate secrete chemicals that cause the others cells to bond tightly into a group (Hunter et al.,1996). In the case of slime mold amoebas, starvation causes the secretion of a compound, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, that causes the cells to stick together end to end (Hunter et al.,1996). With further gathering, the cells produce another cell-surface glycoprotein with which they stick to one another over their entire surfaces (Unter et al.,1996). The cellular aggregates then produce an extracellular matrix, which ho lds the cells together in a specific form (Hunter et al.,1996). Cel...