Lecture 10 - Connective (support) tissue and extracellular matrix Flashcards
Connective tissue (support) functions
Tissues that provide…
General structure
Physical and metabolic support for more specialised tissues
Mechanical strength
Fills spaces in the body and provides cushioning
Three general properties of connective tissue
Tensile strength
Collagen - most abundant protein in the body and provides a key role in giving strength
Elasticity
Elastin - protein that is also made up of fibres, more elastic than collagen
Volume
Ground substance - mixture of various different molecules that come together to form a ground substance, made up of lots of different molecules that allow it to bind water and create volume
Collagen
Tensile strength
Collagen - most abundant protein in the body and provides a key role in giving strength
Elastin
Elasticity
Elastin - protein that is also made up of fibres, more elastic than collagen
Ground substance
Volume
Ground substance - mixture of various different molecules that come together to form a ground substance, made up of lots of different molecules that allow it to bind water and create volume
Classifying connective tissue
Connective tissue proper
Cartilage
Bone
Blood
Connective tissue proper - loose
Open, loose structure
Lots of ground substances that allows it to have space
areolar
reticular
Adipose
Connective tissue proper - areolar (loose)
Strong yet cushioning
Underlies epithelium, forms lamina propria (lamina propria is below the basement membrane and is made up of areolar tissue)
Connective tissue proper- reticular (loose)
Reticular fibres (supportive mesh) Supportive organs More delicate reticular fibre network and provides a supportive mesh within some of our organs
Connective tissue proper - adipose (loose)
Adipose (sometimes classified separately)
Adipocytes
Made up of adipocytes and in contrast to other loose connective tissue types within a section of adipose tissue the majority of what we see is adipocytes, the actual adipose support cells because they get really filled up with adipose droplets within them
Important tissue in energy storage and utilisation
White = stores energy
Brown = thermoregulation
Brown because it is very mitochondrically rich so it has a high thermoregulatory capacity which is used to burn energy, babies have high brown adipose tissue and over the first few years it is converted to white adipose tissue
White adipose
stores energy
Brown adipose
thermoregulation
Brown because it is very mitochondrically rich so it has a high thermoregulatory capacity which is used to burn energy, babies have high brown adipose tissue and over the first few years it is converted to white adipose tissue
Connective tissue - dense
Greater proportion of fibres
Dense connective tissue proper
regular
irregular
Connective tissue - regular (dense)
Parallel fibres (mainly type I collagen) Find collagen fibres in parallel which provides strength in one particular direction so find it in things like ligaments and tendons E.g. ligaments, tenldons
Connective tissue - irregular (dense)
Non-parallel fibres - provides strength in lots of different directions
e.g. in dermis
Dermis of the skin and connective tissue times
Papillary dermis is loose
Reticular dermis is dense - can see lots of collagen (stained pink with H&E) and that they are not lying parallel so not much white space and instead lots of pink staining
Cartilage types
Hyaline
Fibrocartilage
Elastic cartilage
Hyaline cartilage
Makes up the end of bones and the rings of our trachea
Smooth, translucent
Few collagen fibres
ECM made up of collagen and ground substance and have chondrocytes which are the support cell of cartilage
Semirigid due to its structure
Fibrocartilage
Relatively more collagen fibres than hyaline cartilage
Many collagen fibres
e.g. cartilaginous joints, menisci of knee joint
Same support cells of chondrocytes
Kind of a cross between dense connective tissue and cartilage
Elastic cartilage
Elastin and collagen fibres
Elastin provides elasticity
e.g. ear
Bone
Collagen containing extracellular matrix but ECM becomes calcified - osteoblasts secrete minerals that allow the ECM to become calcified and therefore become very hard and within the calcification of the extracellular matrix, we have osteoclasts which are mature support cells from osteoblasts where they basically become inactive and frozen within this matrix
Compact bone and cancellous bone
Compact bone
Compact bond - typically around the outside of bone, provides a lot of strength