The cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) is somewhat rigid and the chondrocytes are permanently located in small cavities of the ECM called lacunae, highlighted in light blue.
Chondrocytes frequently undergo some shrinkage during fixation and during the remaining process of preparing paraffin blocks for sectioning. On the other hand the ECM undergoes much less shrinkage and as a result of the shrinkage of the cells, the lacunae are often seen “empty” or with some cell remnants inside.
There are many chondrocytes in the image. When you place the cursor over the image, the cytoplasm and nucleus of some of them become respectively highlighted in red and blue.
The extracellular matrix of cartilage stains blue or purplish after being stained by hematoxylin and eosin.
The perichondrium, a layer of connective tissue proper that covers the cartilage, is highlighted in green. Observe that no connective tissue fibers are seen in the hyaline cartlage ECM.
