cartilage

[DEFINITION]

• A specialized type of dense connective tissue consisting of cells embedded in a ground substance or matrix. The matrix is firm and compact, rendering ot capable of withstanding considerable pressure or tension. Cartilage has a blush-white ir gray color and is semiopaque; it has no nerve or blood supply of its own. The cells lie in cavities called lacunae. They may be single of in groups of two, three, or four.

  Cartilage constitutes a part of the skeleton in adults occuring in the costal cartilages of the ribs, the nasal septum, in the external ear and lining the eustachian tube, in the wall of the larynx, in the trachea and bronchi, between bodies of the vertebrae, and covering the articular surfaces of bones. It forms, the majot portion of the embryonic skeleton, providing a model in which most bones develop.