Pl. II · Simplex cubicus — simple cuboidal

The plate

The specimen, drawn

Pl. II

The tissue as you will meet it on the slide.

Habitat & range

Where it lives

Body map

Where this tissue is found.

Range

• Kidney tubules
• Ducts of salivary, sweat and pancreatic glands
• Thyroid folliclesStructures in the ovaries that contain developing oocytes.
• Surface of the ovary

Collection record

• Add your slide numbers here.

Niche

What it does for a living

Taking in and handing back. Absorption and secretionThe process of moving substances from the blood into the nephron tubule to be excreted in urine. in small volumes, with enough cytoplasmThe gel-like substance within a cell that contains organelles and cytosol. to run the machinery but not enough height to slow traffic. This is the body’s standard-issue working lining.

field collected specimen

How to know it on sight

• One row of boxes, as tall as they are wide.
• A round nucleusThe control center of the cell that contains DNA and directs cellular activities. sitting in the middle of each.
• In a tubule cut crossways they ring the lumenThe inside space of a hollow organ or structure. like beads.
• Often brush-bordered on the apical surface in the kidney.

Specimen 1

Specimen 2

Specimen 3

People keep calling her by the wrong name

Look-alikes

Three plates. Read the line underneath each one before you decide.

Simple columnar

Tell them apart by height against width, and where the nucleus sits — centred in cuboidal, low in columnar.

Transitional, relaxed

Tell them apart by counting layers and looking at the top row. Transitional has several layers and a domed surface.

Stratified cuboidal

Tell them apart by the count. One row or two — that is the whole question.

Examine it yourself

The virtual slide

Zoom in until you can see the surface of the cellsThe basic structural and functional units of life., then find the basement membrane underneath.

Virtual slide courtesy of Histology Guide.

Field notes

Why this animal

The wombat produces cube-shaped droppings — the only animal that does. Nothing else makes cubes on purpose, and nothing else makes “cuboidal” stick.