The muscular basis of the tongue is formed by bundles of striated muscle fibers. These bundles can have different directions, so histological slides may contain longitudinal, tangential and transverse sections at the same time.

Longitudinal sections show muscle fibers that are cylindrical with pointed tails. Beneath the sarcolemma that is an external membrane, there are numerous elongated nuclei #1, #2. Central parts of the fibers are constituted by a contractile machinery of striated myofibrils, which are of almost the same length as the fibers.

Transverse sections expose muscle fibers of rounded or polygonal shape. The fibers comprise numerous sections of myofibrils that look like oxyphilic dots, as well as nuclei #1, #2 beneath the sarcolemma.

The muscle fibers are surrounded by thin connective tissue stripes #1, #2. The spaces between the muscle fiber bundles are filled by loose connective tissue with small blood vessels and adipose cells of white adipose tissue.