Cartilage V1

Book excerpt: Cartilage, Volume 1: Structure, Function, and Biochemistry provides an in-depth treatment of cartilage structure, function, and biochemistry. Topics range from vertebrate and invertebrate cartilages to chondroblasts and chondrocytes, along with the use of transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to examine cartilage. The collagens and cell kinetics of cartilage are also discussed. Comprised of 12 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the diversity of cartilage in vertebrates and invertebrates in terms of structure, function, and evolution. The principal common attributes of vertebrate cartilages as well as those specific parameters that usefully serve to distinguish between cartilaginous tissues at several phylogenetic levels are discussed. Function and level of function are considered, along with their correlations with the structural attributes of a specific cartilage. Subsequent chapters explore the chondroblasts and chondrocytes of cartilage, particularly how they arise and how they are maintained; the ultrastructure of cartilage; the biochemistry of cartilaginous extracellular matrices; and the kinetic and metabolic properties of cartilage cells. The final chapter analyzes the mechanisms of calcification of cartilage. This book will be of interest to biologists and biochemists.