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Tough bundles of collagen called collagen fibers are a major component of the extracellular matrix that supports most tissues and gives cells structure from the outside, but collagen is also found inside certain cells. Collagen has great tensile strength, and is the main component of fascia, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, bone and skin.
Connective tissue is found in between other tissues everywhere in the body, including the nervous system. The three meninges, membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord, are composed of connective tissue. Most types of connective tissue consists of three main components: elastic and collagen fibers, ground substance, and cells. [2]
The animal extracellular matrix includes the interstitial matrix and the basement membrane. [7] Interstitial matrix is present between various animal cells (i.e., in the intercellular spaces). Gels of polysaccharides and fibrous proteins fill the interstitial space and act as a compression buffer against the stress placed on the ECM. [8]
A fibroblast is a type of biological cell typically with a spindle shape [1] that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen, [2] produces the structural framework for animal tissues, and plays a critical role in wound healing. [3] Fibroblasts are the most common cells of connective tissue in animals.
Collagenous fibers: collagenous fibers are made of collagen and consist of bundles of fibrils that are coils of collagen molecules. Elastic fibers: elastic fibers are made of elastin and are "stretchable." Reticular fibers: reticular fibers consist of one or more types of very thin collagen fibers. They join connective tissues to other tissues.
Anchoring fibrils composed of type VII collagen extend from the basal lamina into the underlying reticular lamina and loop around collagen bundles. Although found beneath all basal laminae, they are especially numerous in stratified squamous cells of the skin.
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In the body, collagen fibrils are composed of several types of collagen as well as macromolecules. Type I collagen is the most abundant structural macromolecule within the vertebrate body and also represents the most abundant collagen found within various collagen fibrils [2] There are immense differences in the types of collagen fibrils that ...