There are three main types of cartilage: hyaline, fibro, and elastic. Hyaline cartilage is the most common and found in places like the ribs and nose. It has fine collagen fibers that give it strength. Fibro cartilage is found in intervertebral discs and is the strongest type, with thick collagen fibers arranged to withstand stress. Elastic cartilage contains elastic fibers and is located in places requiring flexibility like the ear.

1. Cartilage
The three types of cartilage
There are three types of cartilage:
 Hyaline - most common, found in the ribs, nose, larynx,
trachea. Is a precursor of bone.
 Fibro- is found in in vertebral discs, joint capsules,
ligaments.
 Elastic - is found in the external ear, epiglottis and larynx.
Hyaline cartilage:
This is a diagram of hyaline cartilage, showing active
chondrocytes sitting in their lacunae.
This type of cartilage has a glassy appearance when fresh, hence
its name, as hyalos is Greek for glassy. It looks slightly
basophilic overall in H&E sections.
Hyaline cartilage has widely
dispersed fine collagen fibers (type
II), which strengthen it. The collagen
fibers are hard to see in sections. It
has a perichondrium, and it is the

2. weakest of the three types of cartilage.
Look at the e. microscope of a section of cartilage on the left.
Make sure you can identify chondrocytes, the lacunae, matrix
and perichondrium.
Fibro cartilage:
This is a section of an in
vertebral disc, which
contains a layer of fibro
cartilage.
Identify the chondrocytes in
lacunae, and thick bundles of
collagen fibers.
This is the strongest kind of cartilage, because it has alternating
layers of hyaline cartilage matrix and thick layers of dense
collagen fibers oriented in the
direction of functional stresses.
This type of cartilage does not have a
perichondrium as it is usually a
transitional layer between hyaline
cartilage and tendon or ligament.

3. Elastic cartilage:
The picture below is a section of elastic cartilage, stained so
that you can see the elastic fibers. In H&E sections, elastic
cartilage looks the same as hyaline cartilage, so it has to be
specially stained to show the elastic fibers. For example, the Van
Giessen stain stains elastic fibers black.