Slide 14. Apparently stratified prismatic ciliated epithelium of the trachea, Masson stain
Covers the tracheal epithelium on this Masson-stained slide, explaining why pseudostratified ciliated columnar tissue looks layered although every cell reaches the basement membrane. It sets out the stain colours, then the features used to recognise the tissue: nuclei at several levels, a ciliated surface with basal bodies, goblet cells, and the thick underlying basement membrane with glands and cartilage. It also flags the difference from true stratified epithelium.
Inside: 1 section · 1 min
Topic 103 of 127 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Cytology (Dental Medicine, Year 1). The free AceMed note covers it in 1 section, about 121 words (1 min of reading).
In this note
Introduction
Introduction
The trachea is lined by pseudostratified (apparently stratified) ciliated columnar epithelium. Every cell touches the basement membrane, but the nuclei lie at different levels, so it looks layered.
Stain
Masson's trichrome: nuclei dark brown to black, cytoplasm red, collagen blue or green.
How to recognise it
Nuclei at several levels in one epithelium.
A fringe of cilia on the surface, with a dark line of basal bodies under it.
Pale goblet cells among the ciliated cells.
A thick basement membrane (blue or green), and below it seromucous glands and hyaline cartilage.
Don't confuse it with: stratified epithelium, where the upper cells do not reach the basement membrane.
Theory: topics 15 (specialized structures of the cell membrane) and 37 (simple surface epithelia).
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