{"id":689,"date":"2017-05-22T15:11:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T18:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en-mol.icb.usp.br\/?page_id=689"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:06:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:06:52","slug":"2-5-covering-epithelia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/2-5-covering-epithelia\/","title":{"rendered":"2-5 Covering epithelia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"su-row\">\n  <div class=\"su-column su-column-size-1-1\"><div class=\"su-column-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\"> <strong>WHICH TISSUE IS THIS?  &#8211; 3<\/strong> <\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-row\">\n  <div class=\"su-column su-column-size-1-2\"><div class=\"su-column-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\">\nStill in doubt about the characterization of the epithelium and its differences with the connective tissue?<br \/>\nPay attention to the following details:<br \/>\nThe cell nuclei of the <strong>epithelium<\/strong>, are clearly visible. The acidophilic (pink) areas around each nucleus are the cytoplasm of the epithelial cells. There is almost no space between the cells because they are closely attached to their neighbors.<br \/>\nThe nuclei in the <strong>connective tissue<\/strong> are apart from each other. The cytoplasm of the cells that contain these nuclei seems thin and is often barely visible. The areas between the cells are spaces filled by <strong>extracellular matrix<\/strong> &#8211; there are many pink <strong>collagen fibers<\/strong> of different sizes and thicknesses &#8211; and, in addition, &#8220;empty&#8221; spaces that probably result from technical artifacts due to the histological techniques and that resulted is a retraction of components of the extracellular matrix.<br \/>\n<strong>There are no blood vessels in the epithelium<\/strong> but there is one in the connective tissue.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\" https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2-8B.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The layer of connective tissue underlying the epithelia that cover the inner cavities of the digestive, respiratory and urinary systems is also called <strong>lamina propria<\/strong>.<br \/>\nThe combinationn of an epithelium + its lamina propria that cover the moist surfaces of the inner cavities of internal organs, is called a <strong>mucous membrane<\/strong>, very often simplified to <strong>mucosa<\/strong> (as in: oral mucosa, gastric mucosa).<br \/>\nThe epithelial layer that surrounds the outer surfaces of the organs placed inside the large inner cavities of the body (cardiac, toracic and abdominal cavities) is called <strong>mesothelium<\/strong>. The epithelium that covers the inner surface of blood vessels is called <strong>endothelium<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Check the <strong><https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/Glossary\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Glossary<\/a><\/strong> to clarify your doubts about terms mentioned in this and other chapters (access via the Menu at the top of all pages).<\/p>\n<p><a href=https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/2-6-covering-epithelia\/\">NEXT PAGE<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/2-4-covering-epithelia\/\/\">PREVIOUS PAGE <\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/2-0-epithelial-tissue\/\">MENU OF THIS CHAPTER<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n  <div class=\"su-column su-column-size-1-2\"><div class=\"su-column-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\"> <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-689","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20119,"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/689\/revisions\/20119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mol-en.icb.usp.br\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}