ABSTRACT
Tissue (Small and Large Scales) ............................................................................. 417 17.5 Future Development Trends ................................................................................................424 References ...................................................................................................................................... 425
In biological term, tissue is a collection of interconnected cells that perform a similar function within an organism. In medicine, soft tissues include muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia (muscle sheath), nerves, fi brous tissues, fat, blood vessels, and synovial tissues, and they connect, support, or surround other structures and organs of the body. Chief among them, epithelial tissues cover the surfaces such as surface of the skin and inner lining of digestive tract that serve for protection, secretion, and absorption; connective tissue holds everything together; muscle tissues, in the forms of visceral or smooth muscle (located in the inner linings of organs), skeletal muscle (attached to bone in order for mobility to take place), and cardiac muscle (found in the heart) produce force and cause motion, either locomotion or movement within internal organs; and nervous tissues make up the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system.
