Skin Biopsy Specimen

Magnify a region of this micrograph.
Point and click for more information on a feature.

Features which can be seen in this image include:

• Epithelial tissue of epidermis.
• Connective tissue of dermis.
• Several blood vessels associated with mild perivascular inflammatory infiltrate.
  • "Perivascular" simply means "around the blood vessels".  "Inflammatory infiltrate" consists of white blood cells which enter the tissue as part of the inflammatory response.
  • Although it is not practical to identify reliably most individual cells in this region, the numerous small, roundish, intensely basophilic nuclei seen in this region are characteristic of lymphocytes.
  • The inflammatory infiltrate is characterized as "mild" based on the relatively low numbers of white blood cells which appear here.  This appearance should be contrasted with a more severe inflammatory infiltrate observable in other slides of inflamed tissue.
  • (For more, see inflammation.)
• Smooth muscle.
  • In what regions of the body does smooth muscle occur within the skin (besides the tiny arrector pili muscles associated with hair follicles)?
• Many small features (such as individual fibroblasts and collagen fibers) are not individually labelled.

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Comments and questions: dgking@siu.edu

SIUC / School of Medicine / Anatomy / David King

http://www.siumed.edu/~dking2/intro/skinbiop/du1SD3a.htm
Last updated:  11 December 2007  / dgk