The extracellular matrix is the material cells build around themselves. In cartilage it is the collagen network and aggrecan gel that make up almost all of the tissue.
Also called ECM, matrix, cartilage matrix.
In cartilage, the cells sit inside a matrix they made and maintain. In adult joint cartilage, collagen forms the framework of that matrix and two-thirds of its dry mass (Eyre 2002). Aggrecan and glycosaminoglycans are among its other main components (Shin 2022).
The matrix is what MMPs are named for. Matrix metalloproteinases break down its proteins, and cartilage research tracks the balance between cells making matrix and enzymes breaking it down (Dodge 2003). In healthy ankle cartilage, synthesis and breakdown of type II collagen were held in a steady state in the matrix right around the cells (Aurich 2002).
The matrix around each cell can also send signals. Fragments of fibronectin, a matrix protein, provoked cartilage cells to make MMP13 (Forsyth 2005).
Type II collagen is the main collagen in joint cartilage. Collagen makes up about two-thirds of adult cartilage's dry mass, and type II is its principal molecule, woven...
It depends which part is damaged. Reviews describe losing aggrecan, the water-holding molecule in cartilage, as an early and reversible step, and losing type II collagen...
In two main ways. Cells release MMP13 as an inactive proenzyme that must be cut before it works, and the body makes its own inhibitors, the TIMPs. TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and...