01

NOTE
B I O L O G Y

STRUCTURAL ORGANISATION
IN ANIMALS
CONNECTIVE TISSUE - BONES, CARTILAGE,
BLOOD, MUSCULAR TISSUE

Key Takeaways

• Connective tissues
→ Loose connective tissue
◆ Areolar tissue ◆ Adipose tissue
→ Dense connective tissue
◆ Regular tissue ◆ Irregular tissue
→ Specialised connective tissue
◆ Cartilage ◆ Bone ◆ Blood
• Muscular tissues
→ Skeletal muscle tissue → Smooth muscle tissue → Cardiac muscle tissue

Prerequisites

Animal Tissues

Epithelial tissue Nervous tissue Muscle tissue Connective tissue

Compound Neurons

Simple Glial cells

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Connective Tissue

• They are the tissues that link and support different tissues and organs in the body.
• The characteristics of connective tissues are as follows:
→ They are the most abundant tissue of the body.
→ They are generally vascular.

Secretion of connective tissues

 ells of the connective tissues (except blood) secrete structural proteins and modified
• C
polysaccharides.

Secretions of Connective Tissues

Structural proteins Modified polysaccharides

Provide strength, • A
 ccumulate between cells and structural
elasticity and proteins
flexibility • Act as a matrix or a ground substance

Collagen Elastin

• P
 resent in bones. • Found in the skin
muscles and • Elastic in nature
tendons
• E
 lastin fibres are
• F
 ibres of collagen branched
are unbranched

Types of connective tissues

Loose connective Dense connective Specialised

tissue tissue connective tissue

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Loose Connective Tissue

• It is a binding tissue that holds organs and other tissues together.

• It consists of loosely arranged cells and fibres.
• The components are embedded in a semifluid matrix.

Types of loose connective

tissue

Adipose tissue

• It is present subcutaneously (under the skin).

• Function is to store fat.

Fat storage area

Nucleus
Plasma
membrane

Adipose tissue
Layer of the skin

Areolar tissue

• ‘Areolar’ comes from the Latin word that means ‘open space’.
• The fibres are loosely packed with spaces between them.
• It is present subcutaneously.
• It covers blood vessels and organs.
• Function
→ It provides a structural framework for the epithelium.
→ It acts as a packaging material.
• Composition

Macrophages:
Phagocytic cells
Fibroblast cells:
Produce and secrete
fibres
Mast cells: Secrete
matrix and chemical
mediators like
Areolar tissue
histamine and serotonin

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Did you know?

• Animals like whale have a thick layer of adipose tissue known as blubber.
• Functions of blubber:
→ It provides protection from mechanical injuries.
→ It helps in buoyancy.
→ It acts as a food reserve.
→ It acts as an insulator.

Blubber

Dense Connective Tissue

• The cells and fibres of the dense connective tissue are compactly arranged.

Types of dense connective tissue

Regular tissue

•  ollagen fibres present in rows between many parallel bundles of fibres.

C
•  ibres are bundled in a uniform, parallel manner.
F
• E
 xamples
Based on Muscle
orientation Tendon
of fibres (Binds muscle
to bone)

Bone
Ligament (Binds bone to bone)

Irregular Tissue

• C
 ollagen fibres and fibroblasts are
oriented irregularly.
• They are found in the skin.

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Specialised Connective Tissue

Types of Specialised Connective Tissues

Cartilage Bone Blood

Cartilage

• It is a flexible connective tissue that keeps the motion of the joint fluid.
• It helps in maintaining the smoothness in movements of the joints by coating the surfaces of
the bones in our joints and by cushioning bones against impact.
• In vertebrates, most cartilages in the embryo stage are replaced by bones in the adult stages.

Location of cartilage in the body

Nasal bone Cartilage

Upper lateral
cartilage
Lower lateral
cartilage

(a) Tip of the nose and outer ear joints (b) Between bones of the hand

Humerus

Radius Cartilage

Joint

Cartilage
Ulna (c) At limb joints (d) Between adjacent bones of the
vertebral column

(a) Known as chondrocytes

Properties of the
(b) Enclosed in cavities known as
cells of cartilage
lacunae
(c) Secrete a matrix in which they
are embedded
Cells of cartilage

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Types of cartilages

Hyaline cartilage Elastic cartilage Fibrocartilage

• M
 ost abundant cartilage  onsists of type 2 collagen
• C  onsists of type 1 collagen
• C
 onsists of type 2 collagen
• C and elastin

• F
 ound in ribs, nose, larynx, • F
 ound in external ears, • F
 ound in joints and
trachea epiglottis, and larynx ligaments

Notes

Type 1 collagen is one of the most abundant molecules in the human body and is important for
bones, skin, and connective tissues. Type 2 collagen is the main structural protein in cartilage.

Bone

• It is a hard and non-pliable connective tissue.

• T he ground substance is made up of calcium salts and collagen fibres.

Bone connective tissue

• C
 ells of the bone tissue

Lacunae
(Spaces in which
the osteocytes are Osteocytes
embedded)
Osteocyte

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Bone function

• It provides a structural framework to the body.

• It interacts with skeletal muscles and helps in the movement of the body.
• T he long bones such as limbs bear the weight of the body.
• B one marrow present at the centre of the large bones are the sites of production of blood cells.

Bone
marrow

Bone marrow: Site of blood cell production

Blood

• It is a fluid connective tissue.

• It is the main circulating fluid that helps in the transport of various substances.

WBCs

RBCs
Components of
blood
Plasma

Platelets

Muscle Tissue

• T
 he muscle tissue is made of long, cylindrical Bundle of
Muscle muscle fibres
fibres arranged in a parallel fashion.
Muscle fibre
• T
 hese fibres consist of fine fibrils known as Myofibrils
myofibrils.

Muscle fibres

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Function of muscle tissue

• It aids and controls movement.

• In response to stimulus, muscle fibres contract (shorten) and relax (return to normal state). This
generates movement.

Types of muscle tissues

Skeletal muscle tissue

• C losely attached to the skeletal

bones
• Muscle fibres are striated
• F ibres are bundled together in a
parallel fashion
• S heath of tough connective tissue
encloses several bundles of muscle
fibre
• Voluntary in nature
• Found in the biceps, fingers, legs, etc.

Smooth muscle tissue

• S triations are absent

• F ibres taper at both ends
(fusiform shape)
• C ell junctions hold cells together
• F ibres are bundled together in
connective sheath
• Involuntary in nature
• F ound in stomach, intestine, uterus,
etc.

Cardiac muscle tissue

• C ontractile tissue
• P resent only in the heart Fused cell
junction
• C ell junctions cause the fusion of plasma membrane
of adjacent cells Intercalated
• A t some places, intercalated discs (communication disc
junctions) are formed at the fusion points.
• Intercalated discs allow the signal received from one
cell to be passed on to the nearby cell
• A llows the cells to function in a coordinated manner.

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Evolutionary Trends

• Studies into the evolution of the organ systems have shown that there are noticeable trends in
the complexity of organs. These are known as evolutionary trends.

Tools to study evolutionary trends

Morphology Anatomy

 tudy of external features

• S • Study of internal features
• S tudy of appearance of organs

Summary Sheet

Types of connective tissues

Loose connective tissue Dense connective tissue Specialised connective

(Loosely arranged) (Compactly arranged) tissue

Areolar Tissue Regular tissue Cartilage

(Supports (Bundled parallelly) (Flexible connective
framework for tissue)
epithelium)

Irregular tissue Bone

Adipose Tissue (Oriented irregularly) (Hard and
(Helps in storage non-pliable)
of fat)
Blood
(Fluid connective
tissue)

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Secretions of connective tissue

Modified polysaccharides Structural proteins

(Act as a matrix) (Provide strength, elasticity and flexibility)

Collagen Elastin

Muscle tissues

Skeletal muscle tissue Smooth muscle tissue Cardiac muscle tissue

(Muscle fibres are (Striations absent and (Contractile tissue that is
striated, are voluntary fibres taper at both ends, present only in the heart)
muscles) are involuntary muscles)

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