A low power view of normal skeletal muscle. Notice the overall pink stain that is characteristic of this tissue. Careful examination of this reveals that it is made up of polygonal cells assembled in bundles separated by fine connective tissue in which blood vessels can be seen.
Skeletal muscle is deep brown in color due to the presence of a pigmented protein called myoglobin.
Skeletal muscle is in reality a syncytium. The longest muscle fibers in the human body are in the sartorius muscle of the thigh. In longitudinal sections, skeletal muscle fibres characteristically demonstrate alternating dark and light-staining bands, giving them a striated appearance. In cross section, skeletal muscle cells of the adult are polygonal, while those of children and certain muscles of face, even in adults, are roughly circular. Numerous nuclei are seen in the periphery closely applied to the plasma membrane also called the sarcolemma.