Library · Histology
Histology of the nail
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The nail plate may look like a single sheet, but under the microscope it is a tightly packed stack of keratinocytes, the cells that produce keratin. As they become part of the plate, they flatten and lose their nuclei. The result is a hard, translucent structure.
The nail bed lies beneath the plate and supports it, but the nail bed does not produce most of the plate. That job belongs to the matrix at the base of the nail. Picture new layers forming at one end: the matrix makes the material, and the finished plate moves forward over the nail bed. The difference between making and supporting is the key to understanding nail histology.
In brief
Under the microscope, the nail plate consists of compact layers of flattened keratinocytes that have lost their nuclei.
The nail bed lies beneath the plate, while the proximal matrix is the epithelium that gives rise to the plate.
The matrix makes the layers, while the nail bed supports the plate after it has formed.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology InformationHistology, Nail
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