All the basic units of life.

March 8, 2007 3:01 AM

I'm interested in cells. As many different types as can be identified, and the more specific the better. Preferably mammalian, certainly vertebrate (otherwise the the list would be too big!).

Sound references desirable (or, failing that, a brief description of which organ they can be found in).

e.g.
Dendritic Epidermal T cells: T cells found in the skin of mice (but not humans). Nat. Med.


Ideally the answers would be from biologists/reasearchers who have experience with the particular cell(s) they mention. I've already seen the wikipedia list, and although at first glance it seems impressive, it has a lot of errors, and is lacking references. So first-hand knowledge is highly desirable.

Quality over quantity.

posted by kisch mokusch to science & nature (16 comments total)

There are still too many to list, even restricting to vertebrates. Not only are there cells native to the organism, but also cell lines, that exist only in the laboratory. For cells native to the organism, perhaps you could look at a Cell Biology text - it would certainly have references. Each human/vertbrate organ has a number of different cells, plus there are other cells, like T cells, which are not restricted to a specific organ, like T and B cells, of which there are again a number of different types, depending on the proteins each cell expresses on its surface. T and B cells are a type of lymphocyte, which is native to the blood. But T cells can also be found in organs beside the blood, as the Nature Medicine article you refer to describes.
posted by cahlers at 4:20 AM on March 8, 2007

I'd have to agree with cahlers--start with a microbiology text and you'll figure out where you would like to go from there.
posted by uncballzer at 5:17 AM on March 8, 2007

Could you clarify a little bit more what you're looking for - beautiful pictures, descriptions of physiological relevance, etc? And if you're interested in pictures, do you want them in their native state (histological slices), cultured, isolated?
posted by twoporedomain at 5:32 AM on March 8, 2007

If the poster is interested in vertebrate cells then they'll want to get a histology textbook. Microbiology is bacteria and viruses, prokaryotic not eukaryotic cells. Most histology texts will have oodles of pics along with text describing characteristics of the particular cell type. It was one of my favourite subjects when I was in undergrad.
posted by LunaticFringe at 5:39 AM on March 8, 2007

Yes, a histology or pathology book would be excellent. Also, looking for descriptions of "differentiation" (the process by which a generic or stem cell becomes a specific cell) might also get you somewhere.

For example, search google images for "hematopoeisis" or hematopoietic differentiation, and you'll find a ton of diagrams explaining how cells in the blood develop from a single hematopoietic (blood) progenitor cell.
posted by sarahnade at 9:24 AM on March 8, 2007

The ATCC Cell Biology Collection has 3600 cell lines; many are cancer lines or immortalized B-cells (hybridomas), so they may not be what you are looking for.

The problem is that asking for a list of cells is a little like asking for a list of dogs - there's a lot of diversity, and what the relevant categories are depends a lot on what your interests are.
posted by pombe at 11:15 AM on March 8, 2007

Sorry, I should obviously clarify some more. Maybe the that question is too large (even though I was not looking for an exhaustive list).

I am interested in naturally occurring cells. So not cell lines, nor cells generated from in vitro differentiation.

I am particularly interested in those cells that have a basic, in-built, behaviour that mirrors the function of an organ as a whole (the basic-unit cells, eg. muscle cells, hepatocytes, neurons etc.), and cells that have extremely specialised functions.

The problem with Google, or even histology textbooks, is that they are often inaccurate and/or not up to date. I write this, because I can see this in my field (and hence apply it to other fields). The T cell is a good example. No text book today will yet mention Th17 cells, or CD4+ cytotoxic T cells, or the three subsets of Tregs.

Basically I was trying to use Askme to get a better quality answers than I can find online (or in a textbook, for that matter). And I'm not looking for images, just a list that I can use as a starting point for my own further reading.
posted by kisch mokusch at 1:45 PM on March 8, 2007

I think the research literature is the best source for the type of information you are looking for. The problem is finding a search term for PubMed to find what you're looking for.
posted by cahlers at 4:45 PM on March 8, 2007

This is my favorite reference histo book. Well that's the new edition, but I have an older one that saw me through pathology residency.

Other than that, get a good immunology book, or a flow cytometry book, pubmed for hematology or cytology articles.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:18 PM on March 8, 2007

I think the research literature is the best source for the type of information you are looking for. The problem is finding a search term for PubMed to find what you're looking for.

Well, exactly. It can never generate a list for me, but what I can do is search for different cells. The problem is that it's still too general. A search for Schwann cell might be okay, but neuron will generate too many articles. And one of the probles, there is that there are a lot of types of neurons, but I don't know what they are. Immunology subtyping I am completely familiar with, but the other organs/systems, not so much.

I thought if people out there knew of some of the more specific types, I could type them into PubMed without having to worry about getting 2,500 articles.
posted by kisch mokusch at 6:21 PM on March 8, 2007

Langerhan's
Meissner's corpuscles
G cells
D cells
Parietel cells
Chief cells
Osteocytes, osteoblasts, osteoclasts
Blood cells: RBCs, WBCs, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, monocytes, platelets
Keratinocytes
Melanocytes
Merkel cells
Paneth cells
Enterochromaffin-like cells
Mast cells
Goblet cells
Microglia
Astrocytes
Leydig cells
Sartoli cells
Spermatocytes, secondary spermatocytes, spermatids, spermatozoa, spermatogonia ...

I mean it just keeps going. Why do you need these? Just grab a histology book and look through it. Honestly, a question like this is, surprisingly, bewildering. It's like if you said, "what are some names people have?" The question is obvious but the all-encompassing-ness is strange.
posted by shokod at 1:34 AM on March 9, 2007

If you give us some better indication as to your intent, ie why you need such a list, then we might, might be able to advise you further. Are you trying to get this list as part of your research? Most PubMed searches have a narrow focus for just the reasons you mention.

If you seek this list as part of your research, for example, to mention something in the discussion section of a paper you're writing, I'm sure there is another way to go about it without obtaining a list of cells.
posted by cahlers at 7:32 AM on March 9, 2007

You definetly need a histo book like I mentioned above. Sure there's neurons and then there are neurons, these are just a small sampling:
Pyramidal cells
Granular cells of cortex
Granular cells of cerebellum
Purkinje cells
Betz cells
Pick cells
Creutzfeld cells
Alzheimer Type II cells
ad infinitum (seriously, infinitum)
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:58 AM on March 9, 2007

The question is obvious but the all-encompassing-ness is strange.

Exactly, you're asking for something really really large and specific and I don't see how we can help you any better than a good, recent advanced level text.

For example, I could give you a long list of all the cells involved with mammalian intestinal mucosa, it would be very specific, cover a wide range of cell structures and functions, not include disease cells (i.e. cancer cells) even though they're still relevant in some circumstances, would focus mostly on the species I'm familiar with (mouse, rat, cow, human), and while being very comprehensive still wouldn't cover all of them because I know a lot about intestines but I don't know everything. And then you'd be, what, about a millionth of the way there?

You either need to accept that the coverage given by a histology or pathology text is going to be the best overview of the whole system available (and possibly treat that as a starting point), or focus in on a more specific area and work inwards from there. Asking for a list of 'all the cells you can think of' isn't meaningful and I'm getting the impression you're not that far through your studies and somehow don't understand the scope of what you're looking for.
posted by shelleycat at 5:10 PM on March 10, 2007

Thank you all for your input. Clearly the question was poorly framed, and I'm not going to get what I'm looking for here. But it has helped me organise my thoughts on the matter, and for that I am thankful. I will endeavour to address some of the responses here, although I have completely abandoned hope of getting anything more from this AskMe post.

I should've at least clarified my position somewhat. I have a number of years experience in cell biology, and when I refer to cell subtypes, I look at it from the perspective alluded to in cahlers first post. i.e cells that are phenotyped based on the expression of certain cell surface (and intracellular) markers. Such phenotyping requires monoclonal antibodies, and thereby tends to naturally restrict the question primarily to mice and humans. Furthermore, since this phenotyping is by far the most extensive in the field of immunology (since they can be so easily characterised by flow cytometry), and it is by no means infinite, I thought that the suptypes of cells in other organs/systems should at the least be comprehensible (although I emphasise once again that I wasn't looking for an exhaustive list).

The problem with Histological texts is that the cells were described from an anatomical perspective (not to mention over 100 years ago). Granular cells of cortex and Granular cells of cerebellum, as mentioned by i_am_a_Jedi is a classical example. A different anatomical location doesn't (necessarily) indicate a different sub-type. But a macrophage in the liver (Kupffer cell) has a different name to an essentially identical cell in the kidney (Mesangial cell). Thus, what looks totally insurmountable isn't really as infinite as it seems. I've done a lot of histology of and cell characterisation from a number of tissues from both mice and humans, and the remarkable thing is that there really aren't that many different cells in a given tissue.

The desire for specificity was partly to make it easier to research, but primarily it was about proving credentials. I can grab a list out of a textbook, or off of the web, and it will be inaccurate and ambiguous. I primarily desired answers "from biologists/reasearchers who have experience with the particular cell(s) they mention", emphasising quality over quantity. I know the entire list can't be generated here. But I don't think there's too many mefites who can provide such answers, and that's why I gave it the "all-encompassing-ness". So that I might tap into those (few?) researchers with a genuine knowledge of their field.
If I were to say, what are some good german books to read, I wouldn't expect people to google german literature and copy and paste the answers (as I'm sure somebody could).

As for my motivations, it was pure curiosity. Plain and simple. Its not for a research project, or a paper, or anything like that. It was just to see whether some people out there knew of decent references to whatever particular cell type(s) they knew, so that I might read up more about them at my leisure.

But I didn't articulate that very clearly, and I left the question looking impossible. Perhaps, "what cell types do you find most interesting, and why?", might've got a better reception. Then again, maybe not.

And finally a special thanks to shelleycat's "I could give you an answer, but I won't" response.
posted by kisch mokusch at 4:27 AM on March 12, 2007

Um, to be fair, compiling a list like that would take several days at least. Referencing it as you asked would take at least a month, quite probably more. And would only cover a small part of a single organ, so would go so very little towards answering your questions that it doesn't seem worth it. Adding the complexity of phenotype classification to allow identifying cells with very similar phenotype but different names and functions in different tissues would take it beyond my capability (probably). None of this I have time for, I'm borrowing someone else's internet connection right now as it is amd I have my own literature review to write.

Which is kind of the point. Unless you focus in somehow it's just too big for even a great resource like ask.me to cover in a meaningful way. And just randomly asking about the cells we know will give you such a small scattering of what's out there, most of them common, it will effectively leave you no better off (I mainly work with small intestine enterocytes, for example, look them up and see how boring that is).

To get really useful information and fill in gaps with cool things you can't easily find for yourself, do some research first. Start with the pathology text. Make a list of organs/parts of the body you're interested in (maybe all of them), find more specific physiology text books (which will focus on function rather than anatomy), use them to make lists of tissues and general cell types, then find good review articles to focus in on specific cell types and give you back up research. Then you'll have most of your list. Once you've done that you're ready to come here and ask anserable questions to get more detail and fill in gaps.

For example, for the intestinal cell list I mentioned get a digestive physiology text, each part of the intestine won't be covered as well as what I could do if I was given the time, but it will be properly referenced and will cover a number of organs rather than just a small part of one. Then focus in on specific tissues using review articles, they'll be as recent and as relevant as you like, probably more so than my research. Once I can see what you already know about intestinal cell types I can see what's missing or what's been misclassified, and give more information and advice in a reasonable timeframe.

Once you have a base list using ask.me to fill it out could make your list end up pretty awesome. Asking what cells we like isn't going to help anyone.
posted by shelleycat at 1:36 PM on March 12, 2007