Connective Tissue

Connective Tissue

Connective tissue (CT) is a fibrous tissue and the most diverse tissue. It is one of the four traditional classes of tissues (the others being epithelial, muscle, and nervous tissue). CT is found throughout the body. In fact, the whole framework of the skeleton and the different specialized CTs from the crown of the head to the toes determine the form of the body and act as an entity. CT has three main components: cells, fibers, and extracellular matrix, all immersed in the body fluids. Fibroblasts are the cells responsible for the production of CT. The interaction of the fibers, the extracellular matrix, and the water together form the pliable CT as a whole. CT makes up a variety of physical structures, including tendons and the connective framework of fibers in muscles, capsules and ligaments around joints, cartilage, bone, adipose tissue, blood, and lymphatic tissue. CT is classified into three subtypes: embryonic CT, proper CT, and special CT. The proper CT subtype includes dense regular CT, dense irregular CT, and loose CT. The special CT subtype includes cartilage, bone, adipose tissue, blood, hematopoietic tissue (tissue that makes blood cells), and lymphatic tissue, as well as the most abundant protein in mammals, Type-I collagen, which makes up about 25% of the total protein content of the mammalian body.