CONNECTIVE TISSUE PROPER DENSE irregular:
• The fibroblasts are embedded in the matrix: they do not lie in lacunae (chambers within the matrix).
• The fibers are densely packed and thus the ground substance is barely visible. The fibers are primary collagenous fibers and are interwoven without a regular orientation (a few elastic fibers are also present in the matrix). This results in a white flexible tissue with great resistance to forces pulling in several directions. The collagen fibers are slightly wavy: this allows the tissue to stretch a little until the fibers are straightened out but not more.
• It usually forms sheets in area where tension is exerted in many directions such as: the skin (in the deeper layer of the dermis), the wall of the digestive tract (it forms the submucosa), heart valves, fibrous pericardium, perichondrium (membrane around the surface of cartilage), periosteum (membrane around the surface of the bone), fibrous capsules of organs and of joints.