Question:medium
Identify the cartilage shown in the histology slide.
Identify the cartilage shown in the histology slide.
Show Hint
Look for thick parallel collagen bundles, not a glassy matrix or an elastic fibre network.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Hyaline cartilage
- Elastic cartilage
- Articular cartilage
- Fibrocartilage
Show Solution
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Pattern recognition: among the three cartilage types, only fibrocartilage shows obvious thick, wavy, densely packed type I collagen bundles running through the matrix with chondrocytes squeezed in rows between them. That is exactly what the image displays, so the answer is fibrocartilage.
Quick differentiator chart. Hyaline cartilage looks smooth and bluish with a uniform matrix and isogenous cell groups (seen in tracheal rings and costal cartilage). Elastic cartilage looks like hyaline but with dark branching elastic fibre meshwork (seen in the pinna and epiglottis). Articular cartilage is simply hyaline cartilage on joint surfaces. Fibrocartilage, with its coarse collagen and absent perichondrium, sits at sites of stress such as the intervertebral disc and pubic symphysis. The histology here matches fibrocartilage.
Ref: Inderbir Singh's Textbook of Human Histology, 8th edition, pg 56-59.
Quick differentiator chart. Hyaline cartilage looks smooth and bluish with a uniform matrix and isogenous cell groups (seen in tracheal rings and costal cartilage). Elastic cartilage looks like hyaline but with dark branching elastic fibre meshwork (seen in the pinna and epiglottis). Articular cartilage is simply hyaline cartilage on joint surfaces. Fibrocartilage, with its coarse collagen and absent perichondrium, sits at sites of stress such as the intervertebral disc and pubic symphysis. The histology here matches fibrocartilage.
Ref: Inderbir Singh's Textbook of Human Histology, 8th edition, pg 56-59.
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