The nervous tissue in the image is

• A. Cerebellum
• B. Cortex
• C. Hippocampus
• D. Spinal cord

Answer: (A)

The tissue is cerebellar cortex, identified by its three-layer organization and the hallmark Purkinje cells. In this tissue, you’d see a thin molecular layer on top, a single row of large Purkinje neurons in the Purkinje cell layer, and a densely packed granular layer beneath. The Purkinje cells have large cell bodies with extensive, fan-like dendritic trees that reach into the molecular layer, producing a distinctive appearance. The surface often shows folia—the leaf-like folds—which are characteristic of the cerebellum. By contrast, a cerebral cortex image would show six layers with different cell types, the hippocampus would display pyramidal cells in a curved arrangement with a distinct dentate gyrus, and the spinal cord would have a butterfly-shaped gray matter core with surrounding white matter. These features together point to the cerebellum.