Cat skin showing hairs, a whisker and their blood supply.

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<p>Polarised light micrograph of a section of cat skin showing hairs, whiskers and their blood supply. This sample is from a vintage prepared slide from the period pre-1900. Blood vessels were injected with dye (carmine; black) before fixing and sectioning the tissue in order to visualise the capillaries in the tissue. This was a newly developed technique at that time. The capillary bed seen here supplies the hairs and whisker. The fine hairs, thicker whisker, blood vessels and underlying muscle are all visible here. The blood supply to the bulb of the whisker is also visible. Composite of 44 individual images stitched together. Horizontal width of image is 12 mm.</p>

Cat skin showing hairs, a whisker and their blood supply.

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