Cartilage and Bone Flashcards
In general, what two components make up cartilage?
- Chondrocytes
- Extensive ECM
Is cartilage vascular or avascular
-Avascular
What is the function of the chondrocytes within cartilage?
-To produce and maintain ECM
What is the ECM of cartilage made up of?
- Hyaluronic acid and proteoglycan aggregates
- Proteoglycan monomers have a core protein with gags attached
- Collagen fibres
What are the characteristic features of cartilage?
- Resilience to repeated applied pressure
- Non-compressibility
- Solid but pliable
- Elasticity
What does the gag:collagen ratio of the ECM ensure?
-The ratio permits diffusion of nutrients to the chondrocytes from the surrounding blood vessels
Which type of collagen is predominantly found in cartilage?
-Type 2
What type of tissue is cartilage?
-Connective tissue
Name the three type os cartilage
- Hyaline
- Elastic
- Fibrocartilage
What is the ECM of hyaline cartilage made of?
- Hyaluronic acid and proteoglycan aggregates bound to type II collagen
- Proteoglycan monomers have a core protein with gags attached
What is the main characteristic feature of hyaline cartilage?
-Resilience to repeated pressure loads
What occurs when pressure loads are applied to hyaline cartilage?
-Creates mechanical, electrical and chemical signals which direct the synthetic activity of the chondrocytes
What cell type is found in hyaline cartilage?
-Chondrocytes
Where in the body is hyaline cartilage found?
- larynx, trachea, bronchus
- ear and nose
- ribs
- articulating surfaces of joints
- At the epiphyseal growth plate
What surrounds cartilage?
-Perichondrium
What is particular about the hyaline cartilage at articulating surfaces of joints?
- No perichondrium as would be damaged, needs to be smooth and thus cannot repair itself, gets nutrients from surrounding fluid
- Also contains type III collagen
Why does hyaline cartilage at articulating surfaces have irregular boundaries?
-To prevent shearing off
Describe how chondrocytes are distributed in hyaline cartilage
-Lie in lacunae, separated by ECM that they secrete or in isogenous groups if just recently divided, which eventually become to lie separately
Why does hyaline cartilage remain at the epiphyseal growth plates?
-To allow elongation of long bones
What is interstitial growth in cartilage?
-Growth which occurs as a result of isogenous groups secreting matrix and becoming single cells laying in separate lacuna
What is appositional growth?
- Growth from the periphery
- The perichondrium contains elongate fibroblast-like cells which develop into chondroblasts and then into chondrocytes, laying down ground substance as they develop
What is the territorial matrix?
-The highly sulphated deeply staining matrix immediately surrounding chondrocytes
What is the interterritorial matrix?
-The matrix which lies in between chondrocytes and their lacunas
How is the ECM of elastic cartilage similar/different from that of hyaline cartilage, and what extra feature does this add?
- ECM made of hyaluronic acid and protein aggregates providing resilience
- Contains many elastic fibres conferring elasticity upon the cartilage
What colour is elastic cartilage in FRESH tissue?
-Yellowish
Where is elastic cartilage found in the body?
- Pinna of the ear
- Eustachian tube
- Epiglottis
- Auditory meatus
Does hyaline cartilage or elastic cartilage have more abundant chondrocytes?
-Elastic
What cell type(s) does fibrocartilage contain?
-Chondrocytes and fibroblasts (in relatively low numbers)