The hepatocytes that are shown in this
section from the liver are organized into intersecting sheets of contiguous
cells, which appear as "cell cords" in a two-dimensional section.
Each sheet is composed of two layers of cells, the free surfaces of which
face the hepatic sinuses - the open spaces seen in the section. The cells
in one half of the sheet are attached to their lateral neighbors via junctional
complexes typical of epithelial cells and the two cell layers are joined by
a common basement membrane. The polyhedral hepatocytes appear more or less
cuboidal with circular nuclei and basophilic cytoplasm. The flattened nuclei
seen in this section belong to the endothelial cells that line the
hepatic sinuses and to Kuppfer cells that reside in the hepatic sinuses.
