Friday 4 October 2013

Endoplasmic Reticulum









The Endoplasmic Reticulum

     The endoplasmic reticulum serves as many functions of the cell.  There are two types: the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) and the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER).

     The smooth endoplasmic reticulum has a big range of usages such as the carbohydrate synthesis.  It also helps fluids travel throughout the cell.  In liver cells, it produces enzymes that help to detoxify certain compounds.  It also helps in muscle cells, where it helps the contraction of muscle cells.  In brain cells, it synthesizes male and female hormones.
     The rough endoplasmic reticulum also has a big range of usages.  It manufactures  membranes and ribosomes (proteins).  In certain white blood cells, it produces antibodies.  In pancreatic cells, in produces insulin.

     Both help each other out.  When the rough endoplasmic reticulum produces proteins and membranes, they move in to the smooth endoplasmic reticulum to be transferred to other locations.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PASnAaulK-Y

2 comments:

  1. In your poster at the top of the page, you claimed,"Well hey, you have to manufacture ribosomes somehow! The Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum does the job". I hate to inform you of this, however the rough endoplasmic reticulum does not synthesize ribosomes. Ribosomes, are in fact synthesized in the nucleolus. The ribosomes then are released into the cytoplasm and can exist either in the cytoplasm or they may bind to the rough endoplasmic reticulum.

    In addition, in the third paragraph of your page, you stated,"The rough endoplasmic reticulum also has a big range of usages. It manufactures membranes and ribosomes (proteins).". By stating this are you trying to claim that membranes and or ribosomes are or are solely made up of proteins synthesized by the endoplasmic reticulum? Even though ribosomes are composed of a large and small subunit which are composed of a variety of proteins, they are also composed of one or more molecules of ribosomal RNA (rRNA). To put it simply, ribosomes are made up of BOTH a variety of proteins and ribosomal RNA. Also, in that same paragraph, you once again claim that the endoplasmic reticulum synthesizes ribosomes.

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