What does cartilage look like?
Cartilage is a hard, flexible supporting tissue important in skeletons. In animals such as sharks, the skeleton is made entirely of cartilage. In humans and other mammals, there is much more cartilage present in the young animals but this is gradually replaced by bones as it grows. It is more compressible than bone, so cartilage is found at the ends of bones and Between the vertebrae enables the body to withstand the shocks and jarring which accompany movement. Like bone it consists of cells which are embedded in a matrix. This matrix containVariousos materials including a large number of fibrils of the proteincollagenen, but it is noimpregnateded witinorganicnc salts. The cartilage cells are found in little groups enclosed in spaces known as lacunae. Unlike bone, substances can reach these cells be diffusinthroughht the matrix.
