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A common misunderstanding is that organs are made up entirely of "cells" but, they are not. There are other materials involved, such as collagen. We call these
by ztjio 9y ago
A common misunderstanding is that organs are made up entirely of "cells" but, they are not. There are other materials involved, such as collagen. We call these names like "connective tissues" and they take up a lot of the space.
That doesn't mean they aren't involved, proteins can go wrong, but, that is usually associated with other types of diseases besides cancer.
- mcculley 9y agoThat still leaves me confused. A skinny adult who becomes obese has the same number of skin cells? That sounds hard to believe.
- nonbel 9y agoYes, the number of skin cells will increase. They will also need more blood vessel cells, immune cells, etc.
- apostacy 9y agoI would like to point out also, that many people who would be described as "skinny" would almost never become obese. Neither would they be able to put on much muscle mass. It is a huge misconception that our bodies are just blank templates that can become fatter or more muscular. Different bodies have affinities for different shapes. Someone who is very ectomorphic and "scrawny", will often have severe difficulty gaining a substantial amount of weight.
- maccard 9y agoI disagree, (would be open to sourcing from this) but there are photos of people I know from 15-20 years ago where you would look at them and think they’re scrawny, and now they are visibly obese.
- loco5niner 9y agoSorry, but this just sounds wrong. Even if the only evidence I can point to is life experience.
- ztjio 9y agoOh sure they increase, but, not at a plainly obvious rate, it depends on the tissue and the like. But the majority of that mass is not cells.
- arkades 9y agoStretch marks are the areas where fibroblasts just lay down a thin patch of fibers because there's insufficient ability to grow skin to keep up with the required surface area.
- burger_moon 9y agoWhat about muscle? Does that follow the same thing as fat cells, they just stretch/grow, not increase in count? I always just assumed more cells were created as you got bigger.
- DrScump 9y agoHuman muscle cells experience hypertrophy (growth) but not hyperplasia (increase in number). (Post-puberty, anyway)