Why does cell division occur?

Nuclear division is necessary to create cells for tissues that are constantly renewing themselves. The body’s ability to function and heal is based on the fact that dead cells can be replaced by new ones. However, there are differences in the ability to divide between the different tissues.Some parts of the body are constantly renewing themselves, such as the skin, the mucous membranes and the cells of the blood.

The skin and blood cells are constantly regenerated by immature precursor cells dividing. This requires cell nuclear division. However, there are also organs in the body whose cells no longer divide. These include the heart and the brain. Since no new cells are reproduced here, damage can only be replaced by scar tissue and not by the original tissue.

How long does cell division take?

The duration of a cell division is different for all cell types. It depends on whether the cells are fast or slow dividing. The duration of mitosis can be a few minutes, but there are cells where mitosis takes several hours.

Nuclear division is fastest in organs in which new cells are constantly being formed. These include the skin, mucous membranes and bone marrow. Blood formation takes place in the bone marrow. This is where cell nuclear division must be particularly fast.

How often do cell nuclei divide?

The frequency of cell nuclear divisions depends primarily on how fast the cells divide. In cells that divide quickly, cell divisions occur more frequently. Cells that divide only slowly will have a correspondingly lower number of nuclear divisions.

It is important to note that there are cells in the body that no longer divide. These cells are called differentiated cells. These die eventually and must be replaced. The precursor cells have this function. They can still divide and then partially become differentiated cells, which in turn can no longer divide.

What happens if the cell nucleus division is defective?

There are several control points in the cell cycle that are intended to prevent errors in cell division. These control points are located at various points where critical processes take place. In cell division, the most critical phase is the separation of chromosomes.

If errors occur here, two different chromosomes can be produced. The resulting cell would be defective and a tumor cell could develop. The control point of mitosis is in the metaphase, the phase in which the chromosomes are arranged in a row.

The way the control point works is that the next step does not start until all chromosomes are correctly arranged. If an error occurs, in the best case the mitosis is stopped and the nuclear division stops. However, it can happen that errors occur at this control point. If cell nuclei with a different content of chromosomes are formed, the resulting cells can either be destroyed by the body or cells with a higher risk of degeneration are formed. This could also be interesting for you: Chromosome mutation