Biology · Ch 10 — Animal Tissue
Areolar Tissue
10.3.1.1
Areolar Tissue
Areolar tissue (from areola, meaning small air pockets/spaces) is a loose connective tissue whose matrix contains two kinds of fibre:
- White fibres, made of collagen, which give the tissue tensile strength.
- Yellow fibres, made of elastin, which are elastic in nature and let the tissue stretch and recoil.
The tissue also contains four distinct cell types:
- Fibroblasts — large, flat cells with branching processes; they secrete both the fibres and the polysaccharides that form the tissue's ground substance (matrix).
- Mast cells — oval cells that secrete heparin and histamine.
- Macrophages — irregularly shaped, amoeboid cells that are phagocytic (they engulf debris and pathogens).
- Fat cells (adipocytes) — cells with an eccentric (off-centre) nucleus that store fat. …
Figure 10.9Areolar Tissue
What this figure shows. A loose meshwork of wavy fine white (collagen) fibre bundles and thinner, more sparsely branching yellow (elastin) fibres running through a pale matrix, embedded within which are a large, flat, branching-process-bearing fibroblast, a small oval mast cell, and an irregularly shaped, amoeboid macrophag …