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
Property: Areolar tissue
Ground substance contains keratan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, dermantan sulfate and hyaluronic acid.
Collagen, elastic and reticular fibres.
Strong, elastic and supportive.
Function: Areolar tissue
Acts as packing material. Holds organ and epithelial tissue in place.
Where: Areolar tissue
Hypodermis, superficial layers of dermis, around most organs.
Property: Adipose tissue
Network of adipocytes.
Where: Adipose tissue
Behind eyes sockets, yellow marrow, joints, wherever areolar tissue is found.
Function: Adipose tissue
Brown: Generates heat of metabolism/thermoregulation
White: Lipid storage.
Property: Reticular tissue
Network of reticular cells and reticular fibres.
Function: Reticular tissue
Organs: filtration
Otherwise: bind cells together.
Makes up RED bone marrow
Where: Reticular tissue
Stroma of liver, spleen, lymph nodes. Reticular lamina. Around vessels and muscles.
Red bone marrow.
Property: Dense regular
Dense regular network of collagen and fibroblasts.
Resists tension
Where: Dense regular
Aponeuroses, tendons, ligaments.
Property: Dense irregular
Irregular arrangement of collagen with fibroblasts in between. Forms a sheet.
Resists tension in many directions.
Where: Dense irregular
Fasciae, hypodermis, dermis, fibrous pericardium, periosteum, joint capsule, membrane capsule around organs, heart valves.
Property: Dense elastic
Elastic lamellae formed by elastic fibres with fibroblasts in between. Very elastic and can return to initial length.
Where: Dense elastic
Lung tissue, blood vessel walls, GI tract, suspensory ligaments in penis, ligaments in vertebrae
Property: Hyaline cartilage
Resilient but weak ground substance. Thin collagen fibres. Flexible and supportive but weak.
Perichondrium present
Function: Hyaline cartilage
Provide interface for movement at joints.
Where: Hyaline cartilage
GE tract, end of long bones, anterior end of nose growth plate of bone, fetal skeleton.
Property: fibrocartilage
Visible bundles of collagen in extracellular matrix. Increased strength and rigidity-strongest cartilage.
Pericondrium absent
Property: Cartilage in general
Avascular and no nerves.
Chondrocytes reside in lacunae.
Where: fibrocartilage
Pubic symphysis, menisci, invertebrate disks, tendons joined to cartilage.
Property: Elastic cartilage
Network of elastic fibres in extracellular matrix with chondrocytes in between. Elastic.
Function: Elastic cartilage
Maintains shape of structures.
Where: Elastic cartilage
Epiglottis, auricle of ear, auditory tubes.
Property: Compact bone
Made of osteons. Osteons are networks of mineralised collagen surrounding osteocytes.
Function: Compact bone
Protection. Storage of calcium and phosphate ions.
Property: Spongy bone
Made of intersecting plates known as trabeculae, which cause bone to be rigid.
Trabeculae have canaliculi, lamellae, osteocytes and lacunae.
Contains red bone marrow if trabeculae are present.
Function: Spongy bone
Stores haemopoetic red bone marrow.
Function: Osteogenic cells
MESENCHYMAL. Lays down collagen network
Function: Osteoblasts
Lays down more collagen while beginning to mineralise collagen into bone.
Function: Osteocytes
Maintains bone tissue. Exchange nutrients and waste with other osteocytes using dendritic conenctions.
Function/property: Osteoclasts
Multinucleated. Mde from fusion of monocytes. Absorbs broken bones, remodels new bone.
Property/Function: Osteons and its parts
Lamellae: Concentrated extracellular matrix of calcium and phosphate salts (hydroxyapatite) with dense collagen fibres. Strong because of the minerals, while collagen provides tensile strength.
Lacunae: Holes in the network where osteocytes reside.
Canaliculi: Slits where dendritic connections reside.
Osteon Channel: cavity at the centre of osteon to accomodate nerves and blood supply.
Abnormal Periorbital ECM and Thyroid Disease
Caused by the overstimulation of thyroid, leading to the overproduction of GAGs by fibroblasts. Decreases osmotic pressure and water rushes into periorbital tissue, leading to exophthalmos.
Marfan Syndrome
Dominant mutation on chromosome 15 leading to deformed fibrillin. Prevents fibrillin from binding to TGFb, leading to an excess of the factor and excess growth.
Symptoms: Collapsed sternum, overlapping little finger and thumb when gripping, weakened heart valves and arterial walls.
What: Leukocytes
Granular: Neutrophils, basophils and eosinophils.
Agranular: Monocytes, lymphocytes.
Process of Bone Repair
Osteoclasts break down excess bone.
Chondroblasts lay down hyaline cartilage callus
Osteoblasts lay down and remineralises new bone.
Osteoclasts remodel new bone.
