Skeleton intervertebral discs. It is not as hard and rigid as bone but is stiffer and less flexible than muscle. Cartilage is composed of specialized cells called chondrocytes that produce a large amount of extracellular matrix composed of Type II collagen (except Fibrocartilage which also contains type I collagen) fibers, abundant ground substance rich in proteoglycan, and elastin fibers. Cartilage is classified in three types, elastic cartilage, hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage, which differ in the relative amounts of these three main components. Unlike other connective tissues, cartilage does not contain blood vessels. The chondrocytes are supplied by diffusion, helped by the
Thyroid cartilage orthographic revision of what was previously known in the Nomina Anatomica as "foramen thyreoideum", an inconstantly present opening in the lamina of the thyroid cartilage. Thyroid cartilage The thyroid cartilage is the largest of the nine cartilages that make up the "laryngeal skeleton", the cartilage structure in and around the trachea that contains the larynx. It does not completely encircle the larynx; only the cricoid cartilage does. The thyroid cartilage is a hyaline cartilage structure that sits in front of the larynx and above the thyroid gland. The cartilage is composed of two halves, which meet in the middle at