CYSTIC FIBROSIS

Cystic Fibrosis, also known as mucoviscidosis, is an autosomal

recessive genetic disorder. An autosome is a chromosome that is

not a sex chromosome. Cystic Fibrosis affects mainly the lungs, and

also the pancreas, liver, and intestine. it interrupts the Epithilial

cells which are the cells that make up the sweat glands. The epithilial

cells are very important because the tissue that they make up is one of the four basic types of tissue found in mammals.  " When you inherit Cystic Fibrosis genes, it directs the body's epithial cells to produce a fake form of protien called Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator, or CFTR. CFTR cells over take the normal cells in you lungs, sweat glands, and digestive tract ."(nhlbi.nih.gov) If CFTR cells take control over the normal cells, epithelial cells that make up the sweat glands, can not function the way that salt goes across cell membranes. This disrupts the needed balance of salt and water needed to maintain a normal thin coating of fluid and mucus inside the lungs, pancreas, and passageways in other organs. The mucus then becomes thick, sticky, and hard to move. For example, normally, mucus in the lungs traps germs, which are then cleared out of the lungs. But in Cystic Fibrosis, the thick, sticky mucus and the germs it has trapped remain in the lungs, which become infected.