Cartilage
There are three types of cartilage: hyaline, elastic and fibrocartilage. All three are composed of collagen fibers, but they vary dramatically in the amount of elastic fibers present in the tissue. The tissue characteristically has spaces or chambers called lacuna (lacunae, pl.) in which the cells are encased by matrix. The mature cells found in the lacunae are called chrondrocytes. They form the matrix.
The functions, locations and characteristics of each type of cartilage will be discussed on the next few pages. Cartilages do vary in the location where each type is found in the body and in their function. However, they do not vary in the observation that cartilages are only slightly vascularized. They do not have extensive networks of blood vessels passing through the tissues. Physiologically that means nutrients have to diffuse from the blood vessels through the tissue and waste products similarly have to diffuse from the cells to the bloodstream. Clinically, this also translates into prolonged convalescence or healing time when cartilages are damaged. Bone, muscle and most other tissues heal more quickly than damaged cartilage.
