Category: Biology Questions

A human body is a complex structure and blood flow is the primary aspect of a human body. Without the blood flow, there can be no human body as blood flow is necessary.  Whether it be a human or an animal, blood flow is essential.

Veins, arteries, and capillaries are the three types of blood vessels and their major difference is marked by the roles they generally play in the circulation.

Taking the systemic circulation as a base example, let us understand the difference between all three terms.

Arteries

Arteries are the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood to the tissues. An artery is basically a muscular tube that comprises three layers.

Arteries take the blood away from the heart. This refers to the oxygenated blood in the systemic circulation. So, arteries have to deal with a high pressure’s big pump that the heart generates with each beat.

Therefore, arteries need to have

• Ample of elastic tissues to spring back to their original shape
• Thick muscular walls
• A thin lumen to keep pressure high enough to reach the tissues.

Capillaries

Capillaries are the tiniest blood vessels that serve as an association between the veins and arteries. The materials are generally exchanged between tissues and blood through capillaries. Its size generally ranges from 5 to 10 micrometers.

Capillaries have a cell wall that is known as endothelial walls that supports blood circulation.

The exchange of nutrients, water, and gases among the tissues and organs takes place in capillaries.

Continuing with the base example, from the arteries, the blood flows into the capillaries.

Capillaries are where the blood deposits oxygen into the tissues so that they can breathe. So in case, you think about how des the gas transport functions, they are required to have:

• One cell thick and very thin walls
• Requires a lot of capillaries to supply the tissues appropriately
• Low pressure as the blood has spread from arteries to several capillaries.

Veins

Veins are the blood vessels that support blood circulation to the heart. It transports the oxygen and nutrients in the body. Also, water is provided to the cell through veins and veins carry back the deoxygenated blood from the several organs back to the heart.

Ultimately the deoxygenated blood flows into the veins to start its journey back to the heart.

As we know that capillaries comprise low blood pressure to pass to the veins so that the veins do not require thick walls just like arteries. But devoid of the high pressures to keep the blood moving, they require a way to keep the blood moving in the correct direction.

So the veins have

• Thin walls
• Large Lumen
• Valves to stop the blood from going backward

Understanding the differences between Arteries, Capillaries, and Veins

Bottom Line!

We hope that this answer introduced you to significant differences between veins, arteries, and capillaries. These all are generally responsible for carrying blood circulation in a human body and ensures that the blood reaches every organ in the body.

Read More – Biology Questions

View More – Useful links for Your Child’s Development 

A human body has several glands that produce various secretions, including saliva, sweat, hormones, and oil.

Anatomically these glands are extensively classified into two main categories based on the absence or presence of ducts.

One is the Endocrine gland, and the other is the exocrine gland.

Endocrine glands are the ones that secrete the hormones devoid of ducts. In contrast, the exocrine glands secrete the hormones through ducts.

What are Endocrine Glands?

Endocrine glands are the ductless glands of the human body that directly release the hormones in the bloodstream. An endocrine system comprises several endocrine glands responsible for the various processes occurring in the body.

Endocrine glands are considered complex ones, including a few examples like thyroid, pituitary, adrenals, etc.

Examples of Endocrine Glands

• Ovaries are the type of endocrine glands that release progesterone and estrogen to give female characteristics.
• The pineal gland situated in the brain secretes melatonin in providing the response to dark conditions in the environment and also encourages sleep.
• It also starts puberty and regulates the female reproductive cycle.
• Testes are the endocrine glands that liberate testosterone to promote male characteristics.

What are Exocrine Glands?

Exocrine glands are the ones that have duct associated with it. Here the secretions are released to some internal organs or the body’s outer surface with the help of a duct.

The exocrine glands’ secretory products include mucous, enzymes, and other substances. These are considered simple, comparatively endocrine glands.

Examples of Exocrine Glands

• Pancreatic acinar cells are the example of exocrine glands where secretions are stored and then transported to the apical surface. It is then liberated and known as merocrine secretion.
• The sebaceous gland involves programmed cell death where cell debris and secretions are releases, known as holocrine secretion.
• Lactating mammary gland secretion is liberated with some cytoplasm surrounded by a plasma membrane known as apocrine secretion.

Understanding the difference between Endocrine Glands and Exocrine Glands

Bottom Line!

The major difference between endocrine and exocrine glands is that the endocrine gland secretes its products directly into the blood. In contrast, Exocrine glands secrete the products into the ducts, which further leads to the targeted tissue.

Read More – Biology Questions

View More – Useful links for Your Child’s Development 

Respiration and breathing are two completely different terms but are the interrelated body processes that assist the body’s organs to function appropriately.

Let us get acquainted with both the terms individually.

What is Breathing?

Breathing is defined as the action of water or air moving across the respiratory structure’s surface like lungs or gills to help exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen from the environment for the process called respiration.

How do we breathe?

The breathing process begins when a person inhales air through the mouth or nose, and it travels down to the back of the throat and goes into the windpipe that is further divided into several breaths of air passages known as bronchial tubes.

The physiological parts that are involved in the breathing process include

• Nose
• Nasal cavity
• Mouth
• Sinuses
• Throat (Pharynx)
• Windpipe (Trachea)
• Voicebox (Larynx)
• Lungs
• Diaphragm
• Bronchial tubes
• Capillaries
• Air sacs

What is Respiration?

Respiration is defined as the biochemical process where the cells of an organism obtain energy from glucose and oxygen and further releases Carbon Dioxide, ATP, and o water.

This obtained energy is then used for several activities like walking, sitting, running, and almost all the other bodily processes.

It plays a crucial role in maintaining the organ system’s functions. Furthermore, respiration can be classified into two types.

This includes:

1. Aerobic Respiration

Aerobic respiration is a process that takes place in the oxygen’s presence to produce energy. Aerobic respiration can be observed in all types of eukaryotic cells.

2. Anaerobic Respiration

Anaerobic respiration is a process that takes place in the oxygen’s absence. It can generally be observed in human muscle cells, methanogens, and prokaryotes.

How are breathing and respiration different?

Both respiration and breathing are interrelated terms, but their mechanisms vary. Let us take a closer look at the differences between them.

Understanding the difference between Respiration and Breathing

Bottom Line!

The essential difference to understand between both the terms is breathing refers to the physical process of exchanging gases whereas respiration refers to the chemical process that occurs at the cellular level and produces energy.

Read More – Biology Questions

View More – Useful links for Your Child’s Development 

What is Lock and key mechanism?

A lock and key mechanism refer to a model for enzyme-substrate interface, suggesting that the substrate and enzyme acquire specific complementary shapes that fit well into one another.

Enzymes are highly specific that must bind to a particular substrate prior to catalyzing a chemical reaction. Currently, there are basically two models that attempt to explain the enzyme specificity

1. Lock and Key model
2. Induced fit model

In the Lock and key mechanism, the enzyme-substrate interaction states that the substrate and enzymes possess certain complementary geometric shapes that fit exactly into one another. It is just like a key that we insert into the Lock where only a correctly shaped and sized key will fit well.

While coming to the induced fit model, the active site continues to modify until the substrate is entirely bound to the enzyme’s active site, and at that point, the final charge and shape are determined. This model basically states that the enzymes are flexible structures.

Book Your 60-minutes Free Trial class NOW!

How do the Lock and key mechanism work?

The Lock and key mechanism basically refer to a metaphor to explain the enzyme active site’s specificity and substrate.

It functions in the same way that only certain keys fit a particular lock, and also, only specific substrates fit an active site of the enzyme.

Each substrate is specific to a particularly active site, and whenever the correct substrate binds to the active site of the enzyme, an enzyme substrate is formed.

The enzyme then catalyzes the reaction and then an enzyme product complex is formed while releasing the product.

However, the enzyme can be reutilized again and again to catalyze more reactions.

Read More – Biology Questions

View More – Useful links for Your Child’s Development 

Organelles that can be found in a plant cell only are cell walls, chloroplasts, and vacuoles.

1. The cell walls

A cell wall is a rigid covering that gives shape to the cell, provides structural support and protects the cell.

The cell wall provides extra support and strength to the plant cell so that it doesn’t burst while gaining water by endosmosis.

Since the prokaryotic cell wall’s major component is peptidoglycan, the chief organic molecule in a plant cell wall is cellulose, and a polysaccharide made of glucose unit’s straight and long chains.

2. Chloroplasts

Chloroplasts have their own ribosomes and DNA. Photosynthesis takes place in chloroplasts.

These can be found in photoautotrophic eukaryotic cells like plants and algae.

In the photosynthesis process, water, light energy, and carbon dioxide are used to make oxygen and glucose.

And this is what marks the major difference between the animals and plants that plants are able to make their own food, and on the contrary, animals rely on other organisms for their food source.

The chloroplast comprises a green pigment known as chlorophyll. It captures the sunlight’s energy for photosynthesis.

3. The vacuole

The vacuole is basically a bag-like structure containing fluid known as cell sap. Cell sap is a watery solution that is rich in amino acids, minerals, sugar, proteins, etc.

Vacuole stores several ions, enzymes, pigments, inorganic and organic substances. It also plays a significant role in osmoregulation.

Read More – Biology Questions

View More – Useful links for Your Child’s Development 

Active transport is a process that involves the molecule’s movement from a lower concentration’s region to a higher concentration’s region against an obstacle or a gradient with external energy’s use.

During the active transport process, a protein pump uses the stored energy in ATP’s form to move the molecules. Transportation is a natural, essential, and physiological process in all the higher organisms like animals, plants, and humans.

Examples of active transport include:

• Glucose uptake in the human body’s intestine
• Minerals or ions uptake into plant’s root hair cells
• Bacteria’s Phagocytosis by Macrophages
• Amino acids transportation across an intestinal lining in the human gut
• Protein’s secretion like peptide hormones, enzymes, and antibodies of different cells.
• WBCs function by protecting the body by attacking diseases causing foreign invaders and microbes.

Types of Active Transport!

There are two types of active transport.

1. Primary active Support

In the Primary active transport process, the energy is utilized by ATP’s breakdown to transport the molecules across the membrane in opposition to a concentration gradient.

Consequently, ATP power pump’s groups comprise one or more binding sites for ATP molecules present on the membrane’s cytosolic face. Therefore, it can be said that the primary active transport utilizes external energy like ATP. Sodium potassium pump in an animal cell is an example of primary active transport.

2. Secondary Active Transport

Secondary active transport takes place across a biological membrane where the transporter protein couples electrochemical ion’s movement. The secondary active transport utilizes electrochemical energy.

Read More – Biology Questions

View More – Useful links for Your Child’s Development