Fibrous Tissue Meaning
Fibrous connective tissue is a form of connective tissue with a comparatively high concentration of elastic fibres or collagen, which gives it a high tensile strength. These tissues constitute tendons and ligaments. The majority of the tissue is made up mostly of proteins, polysaccharides, and water and does not include any living cells.
Collagen fibres comprise most of the cells and matrix components in fibrous connective tissues. The strands of the fibres might be lined up parallel or organised in a regular or irregular pattern. Areas of the body that experience stress, like the dermis of the skin, include irregularly distributed fibrous connective tissues. Tendons and ligaments have regular fibrous connective tissue.
Composition
Most cells in fibrous connective tissue are irregular fibroblasts, branching cells that produce a dense extracellular matrix of fibrous proteins.
Collagen, the most frequently released protein, makes up one-fourth of all vertebrate proteins. Tissue gains strength from the toughness and flexibility of collagen.
Fibroblasts also secrete elastin, a protein thinner than collagen fibres. Elastin fibres have a high degree of elasticity because these protein fibres possess longer cross-links than collagen fibres.
Types of Fibrous Tissue
The most diversified connective tissue is fibrous tissue or fibrous connective tissue. They can also be referred to as connective tissue or fibroconnective tissue. They are called fibrous connective tissues because of their prominent fibres.
Fibrous connective tissues contain elastic, reticular, and collagen fibres. Fibrous connective tissue is divided into two types: loose connective tissue and dense connective tissue, based on the relative abundance of these fibres.
Loose Connective Tissue
The ground substance occupies a large portion of the loose tissue. Areolar tissue, reticular tissue, and adipose tissue are examples of loose connective tissues. As its name suggests, it has a more flexible and loose structure than dense connective tissue.
Dense Connective Tissue
Fibres are closely packed and take up more space than ground substances and cells in dense connective tissues. The two different forms of dense connective tissue are dense irregular and dense regular.
Regular Dense Connective Tissue
The fibres are typically white or yellow and organised in parallel bundles in regular, dense connective tissue. It is primarily present in ligaments and tendons. Injured ligaments and tendons recover slowly because regular dense connective tissue has fewer blood vessels.
The first type of regular dense connective tissue is the tendon, which connects muscles and bones. Tendons are fibrous tissues with little flexibility and significant strength. Tendons put in extra effort during jumping, twisting, and contacting since any abrupt movements or strikes could rupture a tendon, resulting in restricted movement of bone or muscle.
Ligaments are the second type of regular, dense connective tissue. Their connective tissue performs a similar role as tendons, except they join bones together rather than muscles to bones. Their parallel, thick structure ensures that bones do not move far enough to break. A ruptured ligament may cause bones to rub against bone, resulting in extreme pain.
Irregular Dense Connective Tissue
This is the second type of fibrous connective tissue. It does not have parallel bundles of fibres. Instead, they are grouped in a thick, protective covering made primarily of collagen fibres that intertwine around them.
The sclera, or the white layer outside the eye, is an irregular dense connective tissue. Although it may appear fragile, the sclera is relatively strong. The thick fibres that make up the sclera protect the extremely sensitive eyeball from outside impacts.
Functions
Fibrous connective tissue serves as our bones’ and organs’ primary support structure and shock absorber.
A primary functioning component of tendons, ligaments, and aponeuroses is dense regular connective tissue, which also forms organised structures. It is also present in highly specialised organs like the cornea.
Stretch forces are also resisted by elastic fibres composed of elastin and fibrillin. They can be present in several ligaments, especially the ligamenta flava, and in the walls of large blood vessels.
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