What’s Inside a Cell?

Animal Cells

• Found in every living animal.

• Gives the animal its STRUCTURE and lets the animal FUNCTION.

• Can be SPECIALIZED to do certain jobs.

• Can be different sizes and shapes.

What are organelles?

• Tiny structures inside a cell.

• They carry out specific jobs within the cell.

• Kind of like organs for a cell.

CELL MEMBRANE

• The cell membrane is the outer doors of the cell. It forms the outer boundary that separates the cell from its surroundings.

FUNCTIONS:

• It lets things in and out of the cell (like doors).

• It holds everything together.

CYTOPLASM

• A jelly-like fluid that contains all of the organelles of the cell. It is surrounded by the Cell Membrane.

FUNCTIONS:

• Holds all the organelles inside of the cell in a moving fluid.

CYTOPLASM

CELL MEMBRANE

NUCLEUS

• The “brains” or control center of the cell. It is a large oval structure.

FUNCTIONS:

• Produces proteins to control all of the cell’s activities

Nucleus

Rough ER

Nucleolus

• A small oval structure in the Nucleus that makes Ribosomes.

FUNCTIONS:

• To make Ribosomes.

NUCLEUS = the whole peachNUCLEOLUS = the pit

VACUOLES

• Large water-filled sacs floating in the Cytoplasm. Like storage areas for the cell. Not found in all animal cells. Some cells have more than one.

FUNCTIONS:

• Store food and other materials needed by the cell.

VACUOLE

MITOCHONDRIA

• Rod-shaped structures found in the Cytoplasm. Known as the “powerhouses” or batteries of the cell.

FUNCTIONS:

• They convert food energy into energy the other organelles use to do their job.

MITOCHONDRIA

ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM (ER)

• A maze of passageways in the Cytoplasm.

TWO KINDS OF ER IN ANIMAL CELLS:

1. Rough ER – Have Ribosomes attached

2. Smooth ER – No Ribosomes attached

FUNCTIONS:• To carry proteins and other materials from one

part of the cell to other parts.• Many of the cell’s chemical reactions occur

here.

ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUMR

OU

GH

ER

SM

OO

TH

ER

LYSOSOMES

• Small round structures found in the Cytoplasm. They contain digestive enzymes. They are like the clean-up crew.

FUNCTIONS:• They break down materials with their digestive

enzymes.• Break down large food particles into smaller

ones.• Break down old cell parts and recycle • them.

LYSOSOMES

Chemicals

RIBOSOMES

• Small grain-like bodies found on the Rough ER and floating around the Cytoplasm. They are like protein factories. There are more ribosomes in a cell that any other organelle.

FUNCTIONS:

• They make Proteins

A Whole Ribosome

GOLGI COMPLEX

• Flattened sacs and tubes found in the Cytoplasm. Like the cell’s mail room.

FUNCTIONS:

• Receives proteins from other Smooth ER.

• Packages the proteins up.

• Sends them to other parts of the cell.

GOLGI COMPLEX

Cytoskeleton

• A web of protein in the cytoplasm

FUNCTION:

• Acts as a muscle and a skeleton

• Keeps the membrane from collapsing

• Helps some cells move

CELL WALL

• The outermost organelle of a cell (in plant cells) that is made of cellulose (a sugar)

FUNCTION:

• Allow plants to stand upright

• Some take in water

Chloroplast

• A green organelle in plant cells made of two membranes and contain their own DNA

FUNCTION:

• Where photosynthesis takes place

ORGANELLES IN AN ANIMAL CELL