Loose Connective Tissue

Abstract

Loose connective tissue, or areolar tissue, is widely distributed in the organism. It fills the spaces between the skin and musculature, between the muscle fibers, and between the muscles; it surrounds vessels, nerves, and various organs, forms the stroma of the kidneys, liver, glands, testes, ovaries, etc., forms the leptomeninges, choroid of the eye, stratum papillare of the skin, and occurs in the omenta, pleura, and wherever gaps between organs have to be filled. Loose connective tissue also connects various organs or parts of organs. It is found in hollow organs (e.g., esophagus) between the epithelium (Fig. A1) and lamina muscularis mucosae (Fig. A2) as the lamina propria (Fig. A3), as the tela submucosa (Fig. A4), and as an organ envelope, the tunica adventitia (Fig.A5).