CARTILAGE:
  • Cartilage is a tough but flexible tissue which provides a resilient rigidity to the structures it supports. The matrix of cartilage consists of elastic and collagenous fibers embedded in chondroitin sulfate (a jellylike component of the ground substance). The chondroitin sulfate gives resilience to cartilage, and collagen fibers gives it its strength.
  • The cells of mature cartilage are called chondrocytes. They are easy to spot on photomicrographs because they lie singly or in groups within chambers in the matrix called lacunae.
  • Unlike other connective tissues, cartilage has no blood vessels or nerves.
  • There are three types of cartilage:
    1. hyaline cartilage
    2. fibrocartilage
    3. elastic cartilage