PHYSIOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION OF CARTILAGE IN THE BODY
Cartilage tissue exists in the body in the form of small cartilage pieces of diverse sizes and shapes.
Cartilages are not directly supplied by blood vessels, meaning that blood vessels do not enter cartilage but stay at their periphery. The nutrition of the chondrocytes depends on the diffusion in its ECM of substances originated from blood vessels placed around cartilage pieces. Blood vessels are present in a layer of dense connective tissue that covers most cartilage pieces, called the perichondrium .
Due to this nutritional mechanism the cartilage pieces tend to be small and thin. Therefore, the distances that nutrients, metabolites, and gases must travel within the cartilage to reach the chondrocytes are short.
The figure shows some examples of the distribution of cartilage tissue in the body:
Cartilages are not directly supplied by blood vessels, meaning that blood vessels do not enter cartilage but stay at their periphery. The nutrition of the chondrocytes depends on the diffusion in its ECM of substances originated from blood vessels placed around cartilage pieces. Blood vessels are present in a layer of dense connective tissue that covers most cartilage pieces, called the perichondrium .
Due to this nutritional mechanism the cartilage pieces tend to be small and thin. Therefore, the distances that nutrients, metabolites, and gases must travel within the cartilage to reach the chondrocytes are short.
The figure shows some examples of the distribution of cartilage tissue in the body:
1- Articular surfaces – hyaline cartilage
2- Epiphyseal discs (growth zones of long bones) – hyaline cartilage
3- Auricles of the ear – elastic cartilage
4- Nose – hyaline cartilage
5- Epiglottis – elastic cartilage
6- Larynx – hyaline and elastic cartilage
7- Trachea – hyaline cartilage
8- Extrapulmonary and intrapulmonary bronchi – hyaline cartilage
