Tendons and Ligaments

- Aishvarya Shivakumar

Tendons Vs Ligaments
A tendon (or sinew) is a tough band of fibrous
connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone[1]
and is capable of withstanding tension. Tendons are
similar to ligaments and fasciae; all three are made of
collagen. Ligaments join one bone to another bone;
fasciae connect muscles to other muscles. Tendons and
muscles work together to move bones.

 Histologically, tendons consist of dense regular connective tissue fascicles encased in

dense irregular connective tissue sheaths. Normal healthy tendons are composed mostly
of parallel arrays of collagen fibers closely packed together. The dry mass of normal
tendons, which makes up about 30% of their total mass, is composed of about 86%
collagen, 2% elastin, 15% proteoglycans, and 0.2% inorganic components such as
copper, manganese, and calcium.[2][3] The collagen portion is made up of 9798% type
I collagen, with small amounts of other types of collagen. These include type II collagen
in the cartilaginous zones, type III collagen in the reticulin fibres of the vascular walls,
type IX collagen, type IV collagen in the basement membranes of the capillaries, type V
collagen in the vascular walls, and type X collagen in the mineralized fibrocartilage near
the interface with the bone.[2][4] Collagen fibres coalesce into macroaggregates. After
secretion from the cell, the terminal peptides are cleaved by procollagen N- and Cproteinases, and the tropocollagen molecules spontaneously assemble into insoluble
fibrils. A collagen molecule is about 300 nm long and 12 nm wide, and the diameter of
the fibrils that are formed can range from 50500 nm. In tendons, the fibrils then
assemble further to form fascicles, which are about 10 mm in length with a diameter of
50300 m, and finally into a tendon fibre with a diameter of 100500 m.[5] Fascicles are
bound by the endotendideum, which is a delicate loose connective tissue containing thin
collagen fibrils.[6][7] and elastic fibres.[8] Groups of fascicles are bounded by the
epitenon. Filling the interstitia within the fascia where the tendon is located is the
paratenon a fatty areolar tissue.[9]

Tendons
The proteoglycan components of tendons also are important to the
mechanical properties. While the collagen fibrils allow tendons to resist
tensile stress, the proteoglycans allow them to resist compressive stress.
These molecules are very hydrophilic, meaning that they can absorb a large
amount of water and therefore have a high swelling ratio. Since they are
noncovalently bound to the fibrils, they may reversibly associate and
disassociate so that the bridges between fibrils can be broken and reformed.
This process may be involved in allowing the fibril to elongate and decrease
in diameter under tension.[21] However, the proteoglycans may also have a
role in the tensile properties of tendon

This ligament
represents the finger
joints. ligaments
connect two bones
and cartilages
together.

INVOLUNTARY MUSCLE
TISSUES
Muscle cells (myocytes) are elongated and classified and or
compatible as either striated muscle cells or smooth muscle cells
depending on the presence or absence, respectively, of organized,
regularly repeated arrangements of myofibrillar contractile proteins
called myofilaments. Striated muscle is further classified as either
skeletal or cardiac muscle.[1] Thus, muscle tissue can be described as
being one of three different types:

tendons are those intercalary tissues present in

the chlorophyll of plant cells.