In this video, we're going to distinguish between cilia and flagella. The microtubules that we introduced in our last lesson video as one of the major components of the cytoskeleton are actually a major structural component of two cellular structures, cilia and flagella. Both cilia and flagella provide cell movement, which means that the microtubules are very important for cell movement as we introduced in our last lesson video. Below, we're going to distinguish between cilia and flagella.
Cilia consist of multiple short hair-like structures that move like oars and can either move objects in the surroundings relative to the cell, or they can help provide cell movement itself, allowing the cell to move throughout its environment. On the other hand, flagella, instead of being short, are actually much longer, tail-like structures that move like a whip in order to provide cell movement. Flagella are mainly used to provide cell movement and typically are not going to be used to move other objects in the surrounding like what cilia can sometimes be used for.
Below, you can take a look at our image to distinguish cilia and flagella. Over here on the left-hand side, we're showing you a scanning micrograph of cilia. You can see that these structures are the short hair-like structures that we were talking about before that can move like oars in order to either move objects in the surroundings or to move the cell itself. Notice that there are multiple cilia here, and they are shorter hair-like structures.
On the right-hand side, we're showing you a scanning electron micrograph of some sperm cells, and these sperm cells have flagella. You can see that here is the body of the cell and the long tail that comes off of the body of the cell right here are referred to as the flagella. These tails are much longer than the short cilia and move like whips to provide cell movement.
This concludes our introduction to cilia and flagella and how they're both made of microtubules, which means that microtubules are important for cell movement. We'll be able to get some practice applying some of the concepts that we've learned here as we move forward in our course. I'll see you all in our next video.