LECTURE # 10

CONNECTIVE TISSUE

INTRODUCTION
 DEFINATION
• It is also called supporting tissue
• These tissues connect and support other
tissue of the body
• Connective tissue usually contains blood
vessels and mediate the exchange of
nutrients , metabolites and waste products
b/w tissues and circulatory system
• It also plays important role in defence of the
body
 STRUCTURE OF THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE
• Connective tissue consists of cells and
large amount of extracellular matrix.
–The matrix includes ground substance
and thread like formed elements the
fibers
• Different types of CT differ from each
other in cell variety chemical composition
of the ground substance and number and
kind of fibers
 The following varieties of cells are present in
connective tissue:
• Fibroblasts (fibrocytes)
• Marcophages (histiocytes)
• Plasma cells
• Mast cells
• Adipocytes (fat cells)
• Wandering blood cells - neutrophils,
eosinophils, basophils, and lymphocytes.
Characteristic microscopic
features of cells
 Fibroblast
• Elongated , flattened cell
• Identified only because of the oval nucleus.
• Many long, flattened and branching processes
are present that blend with the extracellular
matrix.
– Not possible to visualize under light
microscope
• Functions :
– Produce various CT fibers eg: healing
wound
• With a contractile function play an important
role in contraction and shrinkage of the
resultant scar tissue
 Macrophage (Histocytes)

• They occur most frequently in the richly

vascularized areas of the body
• The dark staining nucleus is irregular
• Irregular cytoplasmic projections or
pseudopodia are prominent.
• Granular cytoplasm
• FUNCTION: They engulf dead cells bacteria and
foreign bodies (Phagocytosis)
 Plasma Cell
• Rare in CT frequently found in the lymphoid
organs
• They are large ovoid cells having a basophilic
(stains with hematoxylin) cytoplasm
• Nucleus is spherical in shape and eccentric in
position (cartwheel or clock-face pattern)
• Contains the Golgi apparatus.
• FUNCTION: Production of antibodies
 Mast Cell
• It is a large round or ovoid cells with
centrally placed nucleus
• Cytoplasm contains abundant granules.
• Mostly found in Loose CT around blood
vessels
• FUNCTIONS: Secrete histamine
( Vasodilator) and heparin (anticoagulant)
 Adipocytes (ADIPOSE/ FAT CELLS)
• In many locations in the body they accumulate in
such large numbers that they form ADIPOSE TISSUE
• Large Spherical/ ovoid cell 50-150 µm in diameter of
size of capable of storing large amounts of lipid.
– In histological preparation the fat is dissolved out and
is represented by large vacuole
• Nucleus is flattened and displaced to one side of the
lipid mass (eccentric)
– Give a characteristic signet-ring appearance.
• FUNCTION: Responsible for the storage and
metabolism of fat
 WANDERING CELLS
• Lymphocyte - small cell with darkly staining
central nucleus and a cytoplasm reduced to
a thin ring around the nucleus.
• Neutrophil - multilobed nucleus and
numerous regularly distributed granules.
• Eosinophil - bilobed nucleus and large,
rounded, refractile, red-colored granules.
• Basophil - irregular horse-shoe shaped
nucleus. Metachromatic granules of variable
size.
 Ground substance
• Ground Substance occupies the space between cells and fibers of
connective tissue.
• It is amorphous, viscous, clear substance with high water content,
salts, proteoglycans, glycosaminoglycans, and structural
glycoproteins.
• Proteoglycans are very large macromolecules comprised of a core
protein to which many glycosaminoglycans are covalently linked.
– Glycosaminoglycans are long-chained polysaccharides of repeating
disaccharide units of which one of the sugars is an amino sugar which in
most cases is sulfated. The second sugar is usually uronic acid (glucouronic
or iduronic).
– Most commonly occuring glycosaminoglygans are chondroitin sulfate,
keratan sulfate, dermatan sulfate, heparan sulfate and hyaluronic acid.
• Ground substance plays a significant role in cellular nutrition, because of the
exchanges taking place between cells and blood capillaries (which are found in
abundance in connective tissue).
• The ground substance may be: fluid, as in blood; soft and plastic, as in
cartilage; and hard and rigid as in bone.
 Characterisitic microscopic features of fibers
• Collagen fibers are made up of protein
collagen
– Most abundant protein in the body
– are formed extracellularly from molecules of
tropocollagen synthesized by fibroblasts.
– These randomly oriented bundles or fascicles of
the connective tissue stroma play an important
role in the mechanical support of an organ.
• By now 19 types of collagen (I-XIX) have been identified
on the basis of morphology, amino acid composition and
physical properties:
 TYPES
– Collagen Type I: its fibrils form fibers (2-10 µm in
diameter) which are cross striated every 64 nm.
• Found in dermis, tendons, bones, fasciae organ capsule etc
– Collagen Type II: found in hyaline and elastic
cartilage and viterous body of eye. Consists of fine
fibrils which are dispersed in the ground substance.
– Collagen Type III: makes the reticular fibers (Liver,
bone marrow and lymphoid organs.
– Collagen Type IV: non-fibrillar type found in
basement membrane
– Collagen Type V : mainly found in fetal membranes
and placenta
• The remaining collagen types are present in
various specialized situations
 Elastic fibers
• are composed of thin fibrils of
protein elastin and are
characterized by elasticity.
– They appear very thin 0.2 to
1.0 µm in diameter, branching
fibers which form an ir-regular
network through out the tissue
– They can be visible by special
stain such as elastic van Gieson
or resorcin-fuchsin, with which
they appear as a network of
delicate, long, rather straight
anastomosing fibers of dark
brown or dark purple/ black
color
– Eg: Lungs, large arteries (walls)
skin Urinary bladder etc
 Reticular fibers
• Rete (latin word: NET)
• Are visible with special
silver staining
technique as delicate
anastomosing networks
of fine thin branching
black fibers. Which
forms network in
certain organs
• Eg: Endocrine glands,
Lymph nodes, liver and
small blood vessels etc
 BASEMENT MEMBRANE
OR BASAL LAMINA
• It’s a condensed layer of extracellular matrix which marks
the boundary between connective tissue and epithelial,
muscle and nervous tissues.
• in muscle and nervous tissue it is also called external lamina
• Composed of heparan sulphate (GAGs), collagen type IV &
glycoproteins
• With electron microscope it is seen to consists of three
layers
– Lamina lucida
– Lamina Densa
– Lamina fibroreticularis
• The large layer merges with underlying supporting tissue