Lesson 2 of 12 · 5 min
Types of movement
NCERT §17.1
While Meher's legs do the running, smaller movements go on inside her: a white cell crawling towards a graze on her knee, and cilia sweeping the dust of the track out of her windpipe.
The lesson in notes
In short
Cells of the human body show three main kinds of movement: amoeboid, ciliary and muscular.
Amoeboid movement is seen in specialised cells such as macrophages and leucocytes. Pseudopodia form by streaming of protoplasm, as in Amoeba, and microfilaments of the cytoskeleton are involved.
Ciliary movement happens in most internal tubular organs lined by ciliated epithelium. Cilia in the trachea sweep out dust and foreign particles breathed in, and cilia help move ova along the female reproductive tract.
Muscular movement moves limbs, jaws and tongue. Locomotion needs perfectly coordinated work by the muscular, skeletal and neural systems.
Flagella drive the swimming of sperm, keep water flowing through the canal system of sponges and move protists such as Euglena.