Several studies on chondrocyte-seeded hydrogels in bioreactor culture report increased mechanical properties of mechanically loaded constructs compared with unloaded free swelling controls despite no significant differences in biochemical composition. One possible explanation is that changes in the collagen architecture of dynamically compressed constructs lead to improved mechanical properties...

The objective was to study the morphology of the articular disc and analyse the immunohistochemical expression of types I and III collagen markers in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc of human foetuses of different gestational ages. Twenty TMJ from human foetuses supplied by Universidade Federal de Uberaba with gestational ages from 17 to 24 weeks were studied. The gestational age of the f...

Oral spindle cell lipoma is a rare lesion and until now only 26 cases have been reported in English literature. In this article we report a case of oral spindle cell lipoma presented to our institution in July 2011, as an asymptomatic solitary growth of the buccal mucosa in a 58 year old male patient. On histopathological examination the lesion exhibited an admixture of adipocytes and spindle c...

Gingival biopsy specimens were obtained from 9 smokers and 7 non-smokers during routine flap surgical procedure to investigate the effects of cigarette smoking on gingival epithelium and connective tissue. Although no remarkable histopathological difference was noted between gingival tissues of smokers and non-smokers, but smokers revealed relatively more epithelial keratosis, inflammatory cell...

Granulation tissue is a transitional replacement for normal dermis, which eventually matures into a scar during the remodelling phase of healing. It is characterised from unwounded dermis by its extremely dense network of blood vessels and capillaries, elevated cellular density of fibroblasts and macrophages and randomly organised collagen fibres (Ovington and Schultz, 2004). Healthy granulatio...

Four cases are described in which solitary nodules were identified on the anterior aspect of the liver. These had characteristic histological appearances. Each had a necrotic core surrounded by a dense collar of hyalinised collagen, incorporating elastic fibres. While three of our patients had carcinoma elsewhere none had evidence of tumour in the liver. We do not believe that these lesions rep...

Telocytes (TCs) are a novel type of interstitial cells present in a wide variety of organs and tissues (www.telocytes.com). Telocytes are identified morphologically by a small cell body and specific long prolongations (telopodes) alternating thin segments (podomers) with dilations (podoms). The presence of TCs in rat meninges has been identified in previous research. We here present further evi...

For long term durability of tissue-engineered cartilage implanted in vivo, the development of the collagen fibre network orientation is essential as well as the distribution of collagen, since expanded chondrocytes are known to synthesise collagen type I. Typically, these properties differ strongly between native and tissue-engineered cartilage. Nonetheless, the clinical results of a pilot stud...

A previously described isolation procedure for collagen of the marine sponge Chondrosia reniformis Nardo was modified for scaling-up reasons yielding 30% of collagen (freeze-dried collagen in relation to freeze-dried sponge). Light microscope observations showed fibrous structures. Transmission electron microscopy studies proved the collagenous nature of this material: high magnifications showe...