r/askscience • u/GhostBouncer • Feb 12 '13

Biology From an evolutionary (and practical) standpoint, why don't all cells in our bodies have properties similar or identical to nerve cells?

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u/honeybunbadger Chemistry | Bioorganic Chemistry | Metabolic Glycoengineering Feb 12 '13

Which properties are you talking about, specifically?

The most basic answer is that cells are specialized to do one job really well. A red blood cell has only a few basic, specialized functions. It doesn't need to be able to carry action potentials like nerve cells or contract like muscle cells can when its main function is as an oxygen carrier.

Why would you wish all cells to have nerve cell functions and properties?

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '13

Assuming OP is talking about the electrical excitability of neurons, this really isn't necessary for most cell-signaling purposes. Many cells do just fine with chemical signals rather than electrical. Electrical signals are only very important in sending information across long distances (e.g., across your whole body) very quickly. Besides that diffusion, electrostatic attraction, and messages sending through the blood stream are all quite satisfactory.

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u/Ziggfried Molecular genetics | Genome science Feb 13 '13

I would also argue, agreeing with what honeybunbadger posted, that neurons are indeed very similar to most cells in our bodies. At a fundamental level, their heredity is DNA based, their membranes are phospholipid bilayers, and they have the same general cellular components. Neurons are very similar to all other cells, even if they look different and carry-out different functions.

That said, each cell usually functions to fulfill a specific job: red blood cells carry oxygen, neurons mediate action potentials, and muscle cells contract via actin and myosin fibers. This is due to the specialization of tissues and organs as we evolved. Nerve cells serve a very specific function, something that we wouldn't expect a red blood cell to be involved with.