Articular Cartilage
There are three types of cartilage in our body: Hyaliner, elastic and fibrous cartilage.
The hyaline cartilage is transparent and shimmers bluish-white like frosted glass. It is characterized by high elasticity and compressive strength. At the joints it acts like a cushion that absorbs shocks.
The smoothness of the cartilage surface enables low-friction movement of the joint bodies against each other. In addition to the joint surfaces, we find hyaline cartilage on the ribs, in the nasal septum, on the larynx, trachea and bronchi.
The elastic cartilage contains elastic fibre nets. They give this cartilage a characteristic yellow appearance. The elastic cartilage cannot regenerate. It won't ossify for that either. Elastic cartilage is much less common than hyaline cartilage.
It can be found in the external auditory canal, in ear trumpet and in some laryngeal cartilage.
The fibrous cartilage has a high content of collagenen, interwoven fibre bundles, which make it stable and elastic at the same time. Among other things, our intervertebral discs (Disci intervertebrales) consist of fibrous cartilage. Each of them forms a fibrous ring with a gelatinous core that absorbs shocks and vibrations. Also bones and ligaments are partly firmly connected with each other by fibrous cartilage.