Significant mobility within the abdomen is provided to the jejunum because this region of the small intestine and the ileum are suspended by the mesentery. Part of the serous membrane lining the abdominal cavity (termed the peritoneum), the mesentery provides a link between the intestines and the back wall of the abdomen via a system of blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and nerves. Due to the positioning of this link, the loops of the intestines are free to move against one another without friction.

A rat jejunum tissue section (presented above) was stained with Oregon Green 488 conjugated to wheat germ agglutinin, a plant-derived lectin that targets the Golgi apparatus, as well as Alexa Fluor 568 conjugated to phalloidin for cytoskeletal actin. Cell nuclei were labeled with Hoechst 33342. Images were recorded in grayscale with a 12-bit digital camera coupled to a Nikon Eclipse 80i microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.