4.3 Cell Shape and Layers

• Consists of a single layer of cells covering the basement membrane

• Thin

• Provides grater protection because it has several layers of cells above the basement membrane

• Found in areas exposed to mechanical or chemical stresses

• ex: surface of skin and lining of the mouth

• Flattened plate like

• nucleus occupies the thickest portion of each wall

• Resemble little hexagonal (six-sided) boxes when seen from their free apical surfaces

• In typical sectional view they appear square

• The distance between neighboring nuclei is about equal tot the height go the epithelium

• Cells are also hexagons but taller and more slender; resembling rectangles in sectional view

• The nuclei crowd into narrow band close to the basement membrane

• The height of the epithelium is several times the distance between two nuclei

A method of secretion in which the cel ejects material from secretory vesicles through exocytosis