School of MedTechMedicine // Engineering

Microscopic anatomy

Connective Tissue

Few cells, lots of matrix: it holds the body together. Each sheet shows the tissue three times, from the layers to the one feature that gives it away, with a real slide in the corner and the answers on the next page.

Epithelial TissueConnective TissueMuscle TissueNervous Tissue← All templates

Connective Tissue Proper · Loose Connective Tissue

  • Loose (Areolar) Connective Tissue

    The packing tissue under every epithelium, where the immune system patrols.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 0.7 MB Letter 0.7 MB

  • White Adipose Tissue

    Each cell is one big droplet of fat with a thin rim of cytoplasm and a flattened nucleus pushed to one side.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 0.6 MB Letter 0.6 MB

  • Brown Adipose Tissue

    Fat that burns itself to make heat.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 0.8 MB Letter 0.8 MB

  • Reticular Connective Tissue

    A fine net of type III collagen that holds blood and immune cells in place.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 1.2 MB Letter 1.2 MB

Connective Tissue Proper · Dense Connective Tissue

  • Dense Irregular Connective Tissue

    Thick collagen bundles running every way: strong whichever way you pull.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 1.0 MB Letter 1.0 MB

  • Dense Regular Connective Tissue

    Collagen lined up in one direction, like the strands of a rope: tendons and ligaments.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 0.9 MB Letter 0.9 MB

  • Elastic Connective Tissue

    Dozens of elastic sheets that stretch with every heartbeat and spring back between beats.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 1.0 MB Letter 1.0 MB

Fluid Connective Tissue · Blood

  • Blood Smear

    A connective tissue with a liquid matrix: plasma carrying cells.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 1.3 MB Letter 1.3 MB

Haematopoietic And Lymphoid Tissue · Primary Lymphoid Organs

  • Thymus

    The school where T cells learn to tell self from foreign.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 3.4 MB Letter 3.4 MB

Haematopoietic And Lymphoid Tissue · Secondary Lymphoid Organs

  • Lymph Node

    A filter on the lymph: every drop passes the immune cells inside it.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 2.9 MB Letter 2.9 MB

  • Peyer's Patches (Ileum)

    Clusters of lymphoid follicles in the wall of the ileum, sampling what you eat.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 2.2 MB Letter 2.2 MB

  • Palatine Tonsil

    Lymphoid tissue under a surface of stratified squamous epithelium that dips into deep crypts.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 2.7 MB Letter 2.7 MB

Supportive Connective Tissue · Cartilage

  • Hyaline Cartilage

    Glassy, smooth and firm: the cartilage of joints, ribs, airways and the growing skeleton.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 0.7 MB Letter 0.7 MB

  • Elastic Cartilage

    Cartilage with a net of elastic fibres: it bends and snaps back.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 1.0 MB Letter 0.9 MB

  • Fibrocartilage

    Half cartilage, half tendon: built to take pressure and pulling at once.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 0.9 MB Letter 0.9 MB

Supportive Connective Tissue · Bone

  • Compact Bone

    Bone built from osteons: tiny tree rings around a blood vessel.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 1.4 MB Letter 1.4 MB

  • Spongy Bone

    A light lattice of bony struts, lined up with the forces the bone feels, with marrow in between.

    3 pages · 10 colours · A4 · Letter

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    A4 3.5 MB Letter 3.5 MB

Drawn slides generated by WalexLabs (Disseco) from published cell sizes. Real slides: GTEx via NCI Imaging Data Commons (CC BY 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC BY / public domain), credited on every sheet.