a thin piece of wood or other rigid material used to immobilize a fractured or dislocated bone, or to maintain any part of the body in a fixed position. 2. one of a number of thin strips of wood woven together to make a chair seat, basket, etc.
If you take a close look at epithelial cells using a microscope, you will see them tightly packed together. This helps make a protective barrier for our bodies. There are also some special door-like connections between each epithelial cell called gap junctions. The gap junctions are where the cells exchange nutrients.
However, when eukaryotic cells are not dividing â a stage called interphase â the chromatin within their chromosomes is less tightly packed. This looser configuration is important because it permits transcription to take place (Figure 1, Figure 2).