What feature indicates a tissue is cartilage rather than dense regular connective tissue?

What feature indicates a tissue is cartilage rather than dense regular connective tissue?

• A. Blood vessels
• B. Lacunae
• C. Adipocytes
• D. Fibroblasts

Answer: (B)

In cartilage, the cells (chondrocytes) sit inside small chambers called lacunae within a firm, gel-like extracellular matrix. Those lacunae are the distinctive feature you look for under the microscope and tell you you’re looking at cartilage. Dense regular connective tissue, by contrast, is made up of fibroblasts aligned with parallel collagen fibers and does not show these cell-filled spaces in lacunae. So the presence of lacunae is the clearest cue that the tissue is cartilage.

In cartilage, the cells (chondrocytes) sit inside small chambers called lacunae within a firm, gel-like extracellular matrix. Those lacunae are the distinctive feature you look for under the microscope and tell you you’re looking at cartilage. Dense regular connective tissue, by contrast, is made up of fibroblasts aligned with parallel collagen fibers and does not show these cell-filled spaces in lacunae. So the presence of lacunae is the clearest cue that the tissue is cartilage.