Oral Mucosa 4

Soft palate

This is a longitudinal section of the soft palate, stained with H&E. The tissue has two 'outer' surfaces covered by an epithelium- a dorsal (nasal) surface and a  ventral (oral)  surface.

The oral surface (area 1) is a typical lining mucosa with a non-keratinised  epithelium with short, flat epithelial ridges/dermal papillae. The lamina propria of the oral mucosa is thinner than the more anterior parts of the palate (the hard palate) with an increased number of capillaries. There is a large sub-mucosa with prominent minor salivary glands. Deep to the sub-mucosa is the central core of striated muscles

The dorsal (nasal) surface epithelium (area 2) is a thin pseudo stratified ciliated columnar epithelium containing goblet cells and with many minor  serous, mucous and mixed glands beneath it.