Connective Tissue Flashcards
Memorise all the connective tissue garbage
Where: dermatan sulfate
Skin, tendons, heart valve, vessel walls
Where: keratan sulfate
Joints, cartilage, cornea
Where/ function: Chondroitin sulfate
Support and adhesion
Cartilage, bone, skin, vessel walls
Property/function: Hyaluronic acid
Slippery and viscous
Binds cells, lubricates joints, maintains shape of eyeballs
Property: Collagen
Thick, and strong. Found in parallel bundles. Flexible. Resistant to tension.
Where: Collagen
Bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament, aponeuroses.
Property: Reticular fibres
Collagen in fine bundles coated with glycoproteins.
Function/Where: Reticular fibres
Make up areolar, adipose nervous and smooth muscle tissue.
Provide strength and support in blood vessel walls
Reticular lamina
Stroma of organs eg spleen
Property: Elastic fibres
Made of elastin and covered in fibrillin.
Elastic, and return to original shape after stretching.
Where: Elastic fibres
Skin, lungs, blood vessels
Function: Fibroblasts
Secrete fibres of the ECM.
Function: Adipocytes
Stores triglycerides.
Absorbs mechanical shock
Where: Adipocytes
Hypodermis, around organs.
Where: Macrophages
Wandering: Around connective tissue.
Fixed: Lungs (Dust)
Liver (Kupffer)
Skin (Langerhans’)
Function: Macrophages
Phagocytosis of pathogens
Where: Mast cells
Around blood vessels.
Function: Mast cells
Secrete histamine to cause inflammatory response.
Destroy pathogens
Where: Leukocytes
From blood into connective tissue
Where: Plasma cells
GI/respiratory tracts, salivary glands, lymph node, red marrow, spleen
Function: Plasma cells
Secretes antibodies.
Where: Mesenchyme
Near skin and bones of embryo.
Near blood vessels of adults.
Property: Mesenchyme
Irregularly shaped mesenchymal cells in a semi fluid ground substance with reticular fibres.
Function: Mucous tissue
Supports umbilical cord
Property: Mucous tissue
Fibroblasts in ground substance with collagen