Question

If you were looking at epithelial tissue in an are of the body where exchange of gases takes place, would you expect to see simple or stratified tissue?

Answer 1

An example of an epithelial tissue where gases are exchanged is alveolar epithelium, which can be found in the lungs. This tissue is simple epithelial tissue. This is to be expected because the cell layer needs to be thin enough for the gasses like carbon dioxide and oxygen to diffuse or pass through. Stratified epithelial tissue contains several cell layers that would impair the exchange of gasses.