connective tissues

Connective Tissue

Connective Tissue: Form

Connective tissue is the most diverse type of tissue. The different forms look nothing like each other.

Here are the types:


1. Connective Tissue Proper



• Matrix + a syrupy liquid “ground”

(like the deepest layer of skin, the dermis)

You’ve already seen the matrix of Connective Tissue Proper. It was called Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM) in the movie “How to Build a Beating Heart”. Under a microscope, it looks like this.

It is a webby mesh of fibers made of collagen and elastin, all filled in with a gel-like “ground”.

In this picture the big round thing is a red blood cell (RBC).




• Fatty tissue (adipose tissue)

Adipose tissue is made up of big cells that contain lipids held in place by an ECM. The simple name for adipose is fat. There is adipose all over our bodies, under our skin, and around our organs. It’s not just “junk in the trunk”!

Some places fat can end up in our bodies can be particularly dangerous. This heart has a thick layer of adipose tissue on it. (The yellow stuff.) This makes the heart work harder than it should.

Here you can see a microscopic view of adipose cells, called adipocytes. They are filled with lipids (oils) and the nuclei are pushed off to the side. They are loosely arranged, which is why fat is jiggly.





• Tendons

Tendons are made of collagen fibers. The fibers are in dense bundles, which makes them look white and sort of shiny. Tendons connect muscle to bone.





• Tendons

• Ligaments

Ligaments are also made of collagen fibers, but they connect bone to bone. The most famous ligaments in the body are probably the ones in the knee joint (the ACL, PCL, MCL, and LCL), because we hear about them when people have knee injuries, like a torn ACL.


2. Fluid Connective Tissue


2. Fluid Connective Tissue

• Cells are in a liquid ground

• Blood

• Lymph

Red Blood Cells (RBC) float around in a thin liquid ground called plasma.


3. Supporting Connective Tissue


3. Supporting Connective Tissue

• Cartilage

• Bone

Supporting Connective Tissue can have a rigid matrix, which will make it hard (bone), or a flexible matrix (cartilage). Cartilage makes up the springy parts of our skeleton (ears and tip of nose) and lets our joints slide smoothly, like in the shoulder joint, below.

Connective Tissue: Function


1. Support & protection (bone)



2. Transportation of materials (blood)




3. Storage of energy reserves (adipose)




3. Storage of energy reserves (adipose)

4. Defense (antibodies, infection fighters)

The End!

connective tissues

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