Subcutaneous Areolar Tissue from a Young Rabbit

Subcutaneous areolar tissue from a young rabbit, highly magnified. The white fibers are in wavy bundles, the elastic fibers form an open network. Labels: p, p, vacuolated cells; g, granular cells; c, c, branching lamellar cells; c’, a flattened cells, of which only the nucleus and some scattered granules are visible; f, fibrillated cell.“If we make a cut through the skin of some part of the body where there is no subcutaneous fat, as in the upper eyelid, and proceed to raise it from the parts lying beneath, we observe that it is loosely connected to them by a soft filmy substance of considerable tenacity and elasticity. This is areolar tissue. It is also found, in like manner, under the serous and mucous membranes, and serves to attach them to the parts which they line or cover. Proceeding further, we find this areolar tissue lying between the muscles, the blood-vessels, and other deep-seated parts; also forming investing sheaths for the muscles, the nerves, the blood-vessels, and other parts. It both connects and insulates entire organs, and, in addition, performs the same office for the finer parts of which these organs are made up. It is thus one of the most general and most extensively distributed of the tissues.” —Kimber, 1907

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