The mucosa of the colon
is characterized by straight crypts with
no villi.
This specimen has been stained with PAS (per-iodic acid, Schiff), so that mucus
in goblet cells appears red. Note that
epithelial nuclei are more numerous than the mucus blobs, indicating that
absorptive cells remain the predominant cell
type in colon epithelium (as also in the small
intestine), even though they are crowded by goblets and hence inconspicuous.
In
routine H&E stained preparations, the mucus in goblet
cells appears as clear "bubbles" in crypt
epithelium.
