Soft tissue
General
Histology-fibrous tissue
Author: Komal Arora, M.D.
Topic Completed: 1 July 2012
Minor changes: 20 November 2020
Copyright: 2002-2021, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Normal histology of soft tissue [title]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Diagrams / tables | Microscopic (histologic) images | Additional referencesCite this page: Arora K. Histology-fibrous tissue. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/softtissuefibrousnormal.html. Accessed April 16th, 2021.
Definition / general
- Fibrous tissue consists of fibroblasts and extracellular matrix
- Extracellular matrix consists of collagen, elastin and ground substance
Fibrous tissue:
- Loose or dense
- Dense fibrous tissue includes tendons (connect muscle to bone), ligaments (connect bones or cartilage to each other), aponeuroses (ribbon like tendinous expansion)
Fibroblasts:
- Spindled (along collagen fibers) to stellate (star shaped-in myxoid areas)
- Produce various collagens
- Positive for vimentin, actin
Fibrocytes:
- Quiescent stage of fibroblasts
Myofibroblasts:
- Modified fibroblasts with multiple possible origins (see diagram below), including transition from fibroblasts during tissue repair (J Invest Dermatol 2007;127:526)
- Features are intermediate between fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells
Diagrams / tables
Images hosted on other servers:
Myofibroblast progenitors
Microscopic (histologic) images
AFIP images
Myofibroma: interface
of myofibroblastic
tumor
with
normal collagen
Images hosted on other servers:
NIH / 3T3 Mouse fibroblasts in cell culture
Extracellular matrix compliance
controls development of the
myofibroblast phenotype in
three dimensional collagen gels
Additional references
