Connective Tissue Flashcards
what a large difference between epithelial tissue and connective tissue?
connective tissue is directly supplied by blood/lymphatic vessels/nerves, epithelial tissue is not
what embryo layer does connective tissue develop from?
mesodermal layer, mesenchyme cells
shape of mesenchymal cells
stellate and spindle-shaped (fusiform) with EUCHROMATIC nuclei and PROMINENT nucleoli, the extracellular matrix is mostly ground substance (hyaluronic acid)
what does euchromatin look like in a stained cell
lightly stained nucleus, with a prominent, dark and solid nucleolus
what does heterochromatin look like in a stained cell
darkly stained clumps in the nucleus, cannot see nucleolus
where would you see a euchromatic nucleus?
a ribosome
activity of adipocytes
storage of fat for energy and heat production
activity of fibroblasts and derivatives (chondroblasts, osteoblasts)
production of ECM fibers and ground substance
activity of plasma cells
antibody production
activity of macrophages
cytokine production, phagocytosis, antigen presentation
activity of mast cells
production of inflammatory mediators
activity of leukocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes)
immune defenses, migratory from the blood and lymph
where are connective tissue cells derived from?
hematopoietic stem cells (bone marrow) or undifferentiated mesenchymal cells
which are the most common cells in connective tissue?
fibroblast
what do fibroblasts look like in a stained cell
stellate, spindle shaped, ovoid or flattened nuclei with light pink collagen surrounding
what are fibrocytes?
less active fibroblasts
how are fibroblasts stimulated to divide?
specific growth factors
how are fibroblasts functional in a wound?
they synthesize connective tissue fibers to create scar tissue they also can use specialized fibroblasts called myofibroblasts to bring wound edges together (myofibroblasts have actin)
what do macrophages look like in a stained cell
large, irregularly shaped cell with large nucleus, many lysosomes, well developed RER and golgi “lumpy bumpy junk in the cytoplasm”
what do macrophages do
function as phagocytes, antigen presenting cells, and cytokine producers
what are epithelioid cells
activated macrophages resembling epithelial cells
what are multinucleated giant cells
epithelioid cells that have merged together, usually see a “horseshoe” arrangement of nuclei around the apical side of cell
what condition could arise from epithelioid cells or multinucleated giant cells
granulomas, because they are kind of like a large aggregate
what do mast cells look like in stained cell
large oval cell, cytoplasm filled with dark basophillic granules that sometimes obscure small round nucleus (cytoplasm darker than nucleus)(granule filled)



