Connective Tissue Flashcards
What are the 4 types of connective tissues?
- Propper connective tissue
- Cartilage connective tissue
- Bone connective tissue
- Blood connective tissue
What are the main 3 components of connective tissue?
- Three types of fibres
- Ground substance
- Main featured cells
What is the main constituent of connective tissue?
Mostly constituted of extracellular matrix rather than cells
What is the extracellular matrix made up of?
Consists of different combinations of ground substances and protein fibres
Why is there such a large variety of connective tissues in the body?
Due to the differences in composition of cells, fibres and ground substances
What are all connective tissues formed from?
Mesenchyme
- From the middle later of the embryo - the mesoderm
What is the function of ligaments?
Join bone to bone
What are the three types of fibers within connective tissue?
- Collagen fibers
- Elastic fibers
- Reticular fibers
What are collagen fibers?
The strongest and most abundant type of fiber.
What are collagen fibers made from?
Created by fibroblast cells
What is type 1 collagen?
Tendons, ligaments, skin and bone
What is type 2 collagen?
= Cartilage
What are the structure and function elastic fibers?
Stretch and recoil like rubber bands
Have a rubber like quality
Form a branching framework
What are elastic fibers made from?
Made out of the protein elastin
Where are elastic fibers found?
Found in skin, lungs and large blood vessel walls
What is the structure of reticular fibers?
Short, finer collagen fibers
Have a sponge like network
Where are reticular fibers found?
Found in long bones and immune tissue.
What is the function of reticular fibers?
Suspends growing erythrocytes and plasma cells from its network. e.g. bone marrow, spleen, lymph nodes
It is supportive to areas with rapidly changing populations of proliferating cells
Overall what are the 5 key points of collagen fibers?
- Most abundant
- Flexible
- Tensile strength
- Collagen fibrils
- Wavy
Overall what are the 4 key points of elastic fibers?
- Thinner
- Arranged in a branching pattern
- Allow tissues to stretch and distend
- Interwoven with collagen
Overall what are the 3 key points of reticular fibers?
- Thin and short
- Form fine meshwork
- Type 3 collagen
What is ground substance?
The background around where fibres and cells are located
An amorphous (shapeless) gelatinous material. Transparent and colourless, fills the space between fibres and cells.
What 3 molecules make up most of the ground substance?
- Hyaluronic acid
- Proteoglycans
- Glycoproteins
=> all good at absorbing water - 90% of ECM is made up of water - allows tissue to return to original shape when compressed or deformed
What cells are found in the ECM?
- Fibroblasts
- Macrophages
- Adipocytes
- Mast cells
- Stem cells
What does the suffix ‘blast’ mean?
= form tissue
What does the suffix ‘cyte’ mean?
= maintain tissue