7.7: Cartilage

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Page ID: 53608

Rosanna Hartline
West Hills College Lemoore

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Cartilage

In additional to bone, cartilage is also an important part of the skeletal system creating structure, connecting bones, cushioning joints (articulations), protecting the ends of bones, and providing shock absorption. There are three different types of cartilage in the human body: hyaline cartilage, elastic cartilage, and fibrocartilage (see table below). For example, hyaline cartilage connects the ribs to the sternum and is called the costal cartilage (see image/gif animation below). Another example is the fibrocartilage is located between each vertebrae pair making up part of the intervertebral discs, which are crucial for separating the vertebrae, providing shock absorption, and better distributing pressure between the vertebrae (see image/gif animation below).

Rotating skeleton with costal cartilage colored in red.

Above: The human skeleton highlighting the costal cartilage in red.

Rotating skeleton with intervertebral discs colored in red.

Above: The intervertebral discs containing fibrocartilage are shown in red (located between the vertebrae).

	hyaline cartilage	elastic cartilage	fibrocartilage
Microscopic image of tissue
Characteristics of tissue	sturdy cushioning resilient distributes pressure	sturdy flexible	strong flexible compressible
Locations of tissue	costal cartilage (connects ribs and sternum) covering end of bones in free-moving joints nose outer lining of the larynx outer lining of the trachea outer lining of the bronchi	external ear epiglottis	pubic symphysis intervertebral discs meniscus (in the knee joint)