CELLS OF THE NERVOUS TISSUE
NEURONS – 4
Cell bodies highlighted in green, nuclei in gray and nucleoli in dark blue. Blood vessels in red.
The cytoplasm of the neuron displayed on the right shows small blue/purple structures of various sizes, features commonly seen in paraffin sections of neurons called Nissl bodies. Similar areas examined with a transmission electron microscope are recognized as containing endoplasmic reticulum cisternae with attached ribosomes on their membranes (ergastoplasm). Nissl bodies are present also in the neuron at the lower left, although not easily visible because its cytoplasm is also densely stained.
