One important challenge is to distinguish dense connective tissue from smooth muscle.

Remember that smooth muscle will present the features we've just seen, in either longitudinal or transverse cut.

In dense connective tissue, the nuclei will usually be outside the fibers.

Remember that smooth and skeletal muscle "fibers" are cells, while connective tissue "fibers" are cables of acellular collagen.

This is the border of smooth muscle and dense irregular connective tissue.

With your study partners, find:

• the connective tissue


• the smooth muscle

Next
Previous
Image List
Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences