Does bone tissue or cartilage have more access to nutrients?
1 Answer
Jan 27, 2016
Bone tissue has more access to nutrients.
Explanation:
Blood carries nutrients to the tissues. The tissue which is more vascular has more access to nutrients.
Bone is highly vascular tissue. As a result it has more access to nutrients. On the other hand cartilage is avascular (which means cartilage has no artery supply).
In the absence of artery supply, cartilage is nourished by diffusion of nutrients from capillaries of adjacent connective tissue (perichondrium) or by synovial fluid of joint cavities. Being nutrient-poor the cells of cartilage (chondrocytes) exhibit low metabolic activity.
Blood supply of a long bone :
Diagram showing components of cartilage with the direction of diffusion of nutrients :
