Question

• What is the overall pathway of our GI Tract? (Journey of food)
• What specialized tissue allows for gliding movement across organs?

Answer 1

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the articular surface of bones at the location of joint , it are covered with cartilage, a connective tissue with an abundant intercellular substance that gives it a firm consistency well adapted to permitting smooth gliding movements between the apposed surfaces. is an important structural component and specialised connective tissue of the body that help in the gliding movement . It is a firm tissue but is softer and much more flexible than bone.

Cartilages are found in many tissues of the body like

• Joints between bones e.g. the elbows, knees and ankles
• Ends of the ribs
• Between the vertebrae in the spine
• Ears and nose
• Bronchial tubes or airways

Cartilage is made up of specialized cells called chondrocytes. These chondrocytes produce large amounts of extracellular matrix composed of collagen fibres, proteoglycan, and elastin fibers. There are no blood vessels in cartilage to supply the chondrocytes with nutrients.

Instead, nutrients diffuse through a dense connective tissue surrounding the cartilage (called the perichondrium) and into the core of the cartilage. Due to the lack of blood vessels, cartilage grows and repairs more slowly than other tissues.

Three types of cartilage are present in the body

• Elastic cartilage - it functions to provide support and maintain the shape of flexible body parts like our ears and larynx.
• Hyaline cartilage - it is the most abundant type of cartilage in the body. This smooth, transparent, glassy type of cartilage coats the ends of the bone surfaces, reducing friction in the joints. It is firmly anchored to the bone, and is responsible for the fluid movement of the bones in a joint. The more common name for this type of cartilage is articular cartilage.
• Fibrocartilage -it is a flexible, elastic, tough form of cartilage that provides cushioning in the joints. The meniscus in the knee joint is made of half-moon-shaped fibrocartilage, and so is the ring-shaped labrum that cushions our hip and shoulder joints. Fibrocartilage tissues absorb approximately a third of joint impact load, but is not as smooth as the articular, cartilage that coats the bones themselves.
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