The basement membrane consists of the basal lamina produced by epithelial cells, and a more fibrous reticular layer which is below the basal lamina. In many epithelial cells, the nuclei are somewhat basal.
Epithelia are avascular .
This means that blood vessels do not penetrate up between these cells, as they do in connective tissue and muscle cells. A major cytoskeletal component of epithelial tissue is the intermediate filament called keratin . Connective tissue cells on the left.