1. Elastic cartilage and fibrocartilage. A
Elastic cartilage and fibrocartilage. A. Elastic cartilage from the external ear. The dense connective tissue of the perichondrium is evident at upper and lower surfaces of this cartilage. The chondrocytes are large and present mostly as single cells. The abundant elastic fibers appear as a wispy texture between the chondrocytes. (Verhoeff stain) B. Elastic cartilage from the epiglottis of an older person. Note the age-related changes in this tissue: the cartilage has shrunk and in places has been replaced with a disorganized tissue containing adipocytes. (Verhoeff stain). C. Fibrocartilage and hyaline cartilage in the developing pubic symphysis. The pubic symphysis is a joint composed of fibrocartilage that holds the two hip bones together at the front of the pelvis. Chondrocytes of the fibrocartilage are visible as single and double cells separated by bundles of type I collagen. The hyaline cartilage visible on the right side of this image will be replaced by bone as development proceeds. Fibrocartilage lacks a perichondrium; in this case, it merges smoothly with the presumptive perichondrium of the hyaline cartilage. D. Fibrocartilage of the annulus fibrosus of an intervertebral disc. Intervertebral discs consist of layers of fibrocartilage surrounding a central fluid-filled area, called the nucleus pulposus (not shown). The cartilage layers are assembled with bundles of collagen in one layer oriented at right angles to bundles in adjacent layers. The double-headed arrows indicate the orientation of collagen bundles in two layers; between them, the bundles are oriented perpendicular to the plane of the micrograph.
Source: CARTILAGE, The Big Picture: Histology
Citation: Ash R, Morton DA, Scott SA. The Big Picture: Histology; 2017 Available at: Accessed: December 26, 2017
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