Connective Tissue Matrix: Pt. 2

The emphasis in this volume is on how connective tissue matrix changes its properties and influences biological processes. Chapter one provides a general overview of the subject and subsequent chapters provide specific examples. It is intended as a sequel to volume five. The structure of connective tissue matrices are responsible for many of the remarkable mechnical properties of the body. In the musculo-skeletal system, the contractile properties of muscle are often emphasised while such tissues as bone, tendon, ligament and cartilage are sometimes considered to be static, inert and relatively unimportant. However, the rigidity of bone is essential for locomotion, it is constantly being remodelled, and it acts as a reservoir of calcium in the body. Tendons, ligaments and cartilages have a similar macromolecular composition but do not contain mineral, so that they lack the rigidity of bone. Their internal structures enable them to withstand the high forces to which they are subjected and, at least in the case of tendons and ligaments, these structures are dynamic so that the response of the tissues adapts to the magnitude of the applied force.
Indeed, connective tissues are even implicated in the properties of muscles themselves, as described in chapter six. Many other biological systems rely on connective tissues for their mechanical properties - blood vessels (chapter seven) and uterine cervix (chapter eight) provide examples.