What is the difference between loose and dense connective tissue

All of these fiber types are embedded in ground substance. Secreted by fibroblasts, ground substance is made of polysaccharides, specifically hyaluronic acid, and proteins. These combine to form a proteoglycan with a protein core and polysaccharide branches.

The proteoglycan attracts and traps available moisture forming the clear, viscous, colorless matrix you now know as ground substance. Loose connective tissue is found between many organs where it acts both to absorb shock and bind tissues together. It allows water, salts, and various nutrients to diffuse through to adjacent or imbedded cells and tissues. Adipose tissue consists mostly of fat storage cells, with little extracellular matrix Figure.

A large number of capillaries allow rapid storage and mobilization of lipid molecules. White adipose tissue is most abundant. It can appear yellow and owes its color to carotene and related pigments from plant food. White fat contributes mostly to lipid storage and can serve as insulation from cold temperatures and mechanical injuries. White adipose tissue can be found protecting the kidneys and cushioning the back of the eye. The many mitochondria in the cytoplasm of brown adipose tissue help explain its efficiency at metabolizing stored fat.

Brown adipose tissue is thermogenic, meaning that as it breaks down fats, it releases metabolic heat, rather than producing adenosine triphosphate ATP , a key molecule used in metabolism.

Areolar tissue shows little specialization. It contains all the cell types and fibers previously described and is distributed in a random, web-like fashion. It fills the spaces between muscle fibers, surrounds blood and lymph vessels, and supports organs in the abdominal cavity.

Areolar tissue underlies most epithelia and represents the connective tissue component of epithelial membranes, which are described further in a later section. Reticular tissue is a mesh-like, supportive framework for soft organs such as lymphatic tissue, the spleen, and the liver Figure. Reticular cells produce the reticular fibers that form the network onto which other cells attach.

Dense Connective Tissue Dense connective tissue contains more collagen fibers than does loose connective tissue. As a consequence, it displays greater resistance to stretching.

There are two major categories of dense connective tissue: regular and irregular. Dense regular connective tissue fibers are parallel to each other, enhancing tensile strength and resistance to stretching in the direction of the fiber orientations. Ligaments and tendons are made of dense regular connective tissue, but in ligaments not all fibers are parallel.

Dense regular elastic tissue contains elastin fibers in addition to collagen fibers, which allows the ligament to return to its original length after stretching. The ligaments in the vocal folds and between the vertebrae in the vertebral column are elastic. In dense irregular connective tissue, the direction of fibers is random. This arrangement gives the tissue greater strength in all directions and less strength in one particular direction.

In some tissues, fibers crisscross and form a mesh. In other tissues, stretching in several directions is achieved by alternating layers where fibers run in the same orientation in each layer, and it is the layers themselves that are stacked at an angle. The dermis of the skin is an example of dense irregular connective tissue rich in collagen fibers. Dense irregular elastic tissues give arterial walls the strength and the ability to regain original shape after stretching Figure.

Disorders of the… Connective Tissue: Tendinitis Your opponent stands ready as you prepare to hit the serve, but you are confident that you will smash the ball past your opponent. As you toss the ball high in the air, a burning pain shoots across your wrist and you drop the tennis racket. That dull ache in the wrist that you ignored through the summer is now an unbearable pain. The game is over for now.

After examining your swollen wrist, the doctor in the emergency room announces that you have developed wrist tendinitis. She recommends icing the tender area, taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication to ease the pain and to reduce swelling, and complete rest for a few weeks. She interrupts your protests that you cannot stop playing.

She issues a stern warning about the risk of aggravating the condition and the possibility of surgery. She consoles you by mentioning that well known tennis players such as Venus and Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal have also suffered from tendinitis related injuries. What is tendinitis and how did it happen?

Tendinitis is the inflammation of a tendon, the thick band of fibrous connective tissue that attaches a muscle to a bone. The condition causes pain and tenderness in the area around a joint. On rare occasions, a sudden serious injury will cause tendinitis. Most often, the condition results from repetitive motions over time that strain the tendons needed to perform the tasks. Persons whose jobs and hobbies involve performing the same movements over and over again are often at the greatest risk of tendinitis.

In all cases, overuse of the joint causes a microtrauma that initiates the inflammatory response. Tendinitis is routinely diagnosed through a clinical examination. In case of severe pain, X-rays can be examined to rule out the possibility of a bone injury. Severe cases of tendinitis can even tear loose a tendon.

Surgical repair of a tendon is painful. Connective tissue in the tendon does not have abundant blood supply and heals slowly. While older adults are at risk for tendinitis because the elasticity of tendon tissue decreases with age, active people of all ages can develop tendinitis.

Young athletes, dancers, and computer operators; anyone who performs the same movements constantly is at risk for tendinitis. Although repetitive motions are unavoidable in many activities and may lead to tendinitis, precautions can be taken that can lessen the probability of developing tendinitis. For active individuals, stretches before exercising and cross training or changing exercises are recommended. For the passionate athlete, it may be time to take some lessons to improve technique.

All of the preventive measures aim to increase the strength of the tendon and decrease the stress put on it. With proper rest and managed care, you will be back on the court to hit that slice-spin serve over the net. Reticular fiber is also formed from the same protein subunits as collagen fibers; however, these fibers remain narrow and are arrayed in a branching network. They are found throughout the body, but are most abundant in the reticular tissue of soft organs, such as liver and spleen, where they anchor and provide structural support to the parenchyma the functional cells, blood vessels, and nerves of the organ.

All of these fiber types are embedded in ground substance. Secreted by fibroblasts, ground substance is made of water, polysaccharides, specifically hyaluronic acid, and proteins. These combine to form a proteoglycan with a protein core and polysaccharide branches.

The proteoglycan attracts and traps available moisture forming the clear, viscous, colorless matrix you now know as ground substance. Connective tissues perform many functions in the body, but most importantly, they support and connect other tissues; from the connective tissue sheath that surrounds muscle cells, to the tendons that attach muscles to bones, and to the skeleton that supports the positions of the body.

Protection is another major function of connective tissue, in the form of fibrous capsules and bones that protect delicate organs and, of course, the skeletal system. Specialized cells in connective tissue defend the body from microorganisms that enter the body. Transport of fluid, nutrients, waste, and chemical messengers is ensured by specialized fluid connective tissues, such as blood and lymph. Adipose cells store surplus energy in the form of fat and contribute to the thermal insulation of the body.

Loose connective tissue is found between many organs where it acts both to absorb shock and bind tissues together. It allows water, salts, and various nutrients to diffuse through to adjacent or imbedded cells and tissues.

Adipose tissue consists mostly of fat storage cells called a dipocytes that store lipids as droplets that fill most of the cytoplasm figure 4.

A large number of capillaries allow rapid storage and mobilization of lipid molecules. Fat contributes mostly to lipid storage, can serve as insulation from cold temperatures and mechanical injuries, and can be found protecting internal organs such as the kidneys and eye.

Areolar tissue shows little specialization. It contains all the cell types and fibers previously described and is distributed in a random, web-like fashion. It fills the spaces between muscle fibers, surrounds blood and lymph vessels, and supports organs in the abdominal cavity.

Areolar tissue underlies most epithelia and represents the connective tissue component of epithelial membranes, which are described further in a later section. Figure 4. Areolar Tissue. This is a loose connective tissue widely spread throughout the body. It contains all three types of fibers collagen, elastin, and reticular with much ground substance and fibroblasts. Reticular tissue is a mesh-like, supportive framework for soft organs such as lymphatic tissue, the spleen, and the liver Figure 4.

Reticular cells produce the reticular fibers that form the network onto which other cells attach. Dense connective tissue contains more collagen fibers than does loose connective tissue. The key difference between loose and dense connective tissue is that loose connective tissue has loosely arranged fibres and cells in the matrix, while dense connective tissue has densely arranged fibres in the matrix.

There are four types of basic tissues in the human body: epithelial tissue , connective tissue, muscle tissue , and nervous tissue.

Considering its structure and the wide variety of functions, the connective tissue is the most known diverse tissue out of all basic tissues. The structure of connective tissue varies from soft gel-like loose areolar connective tissue to hard bones. Presence of extracellular matrix with ground substances and fibres is the unique characteristic feature of this special tissue. Based on the types and relative abundance of cells as well as the organization of fibres and ground substances, connective tissue can be classified into several categories.

Loose and dense connective tissues are two important categories among them. Overview and Key Difference 2. What is Loose Connective Tissue 3. What is Dense Connective Tissue 4. Loose connective tissue is named as such due to the loose arrangement of fibres and cells in the matrix. Figure 1: Loose Connective Tissue. The three types of loose connective tissue are areolar, adipose, and reticular connective tissue. The most abundant types of loose connective tissue are areolar and adipose. They occur in places where vessels, nerves , and ducts pass through the tissues.

The most characteristic feature of areolar and adipose tissues is their elasticity. This allows accommodating the stretch that occurs in vessels and other organs during the movements of the body. Areolar and adipose connective tissues also absorb the shocks to protect the internal body tissues.

The reticular connective tissue forms the framework around organs, glands , and the lymph nodes. The location and the function of each type of loose connective tissue are described in table 1. The dense connective tissue is the type of connective tissue in which the main matrix component is the protein fibers.

That means dense connective tissue consists of numerous protein fibers in the matrix. The main fiber component of the dense connective tissue is the collagen fibers. Since the dense connective tissue is resistant to stretch, it provides strength to organs and tissues. The bands called tendons and capsules in the joints are formed by dense connective tissue.

Tendons are another structure produced by dense connective tissue to connect muscles to bones. Muscles are covered by layers of dense connective tissue.