The term used to obtain continuous ribbons of tissue when there are holes in the tissue is which of the following?

• A. Ribbon past the holes of tissue
• B. Serial sectioning
• C. Thick sectioning
• D. Ultrathin sectioning

Answer: (A)

In microtomy, when tissue has holes or missing areas, you want to keep a continuous strip of sections on the slide. The term used to describe obtaining that uninterrupted ribbon despite defects is to ribbon past the holes. This concept captures the idea of producing a single, continuous ribbon that spans over the defective spots, so you don’t break the sequence of sections on the slide.

Serial sectioning refers to collecting many consecutive sections for 3D reconstruction, not about bridging defects in a single ribbon. Thick sectioning and ultrathin sectioning describe the thickness of the sections and are related to imaging needs (light vs electron microscopy), not the ability to maintain a continuous ribbon across tissue holes.