This section of a skeletal muscle section shows the general appearance of skeletal muscle cut in cross section. The individual muscle cells, also called muscle fibers, stain brightly with eosin because they are filled with muscle proteins. There is an absence of striation, but at this magnification no internal details can not be resolved. Muscle cell nuclei can be seen as dark dots at the edges of the cells, just beneath the plasma membrane. Other nuclei, lying outside of the muscle cells, belong either to fibroblasts or endothelial cells. The unstained extracellular spaces are filled with extracellular matrix, including collagen fibers of the endomysium, which surround the individual muscle fibers and hold them together. The bundle of muscle fibers, called a fascicle, is covered by a layer of collagenous connective tissue, called the perimysium. An anatomical muscle is composed of one or more fascicles, surrounded by a thick layer of collagenous connective tissue, called the epimysium. When there is only one fascicle, the perimysium and the epimysium are the same structure.
Stain = H&E
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| Copyright by: Paul B. Bell, Jr. & Barbara Safiejko-Mroczka |
The University of Oklahoma