Anatomy

Pathology

Lesion

Articular cartilage

Hyaline

Extracellular matrix

Chemistry

Alternative medicine

Osteoarthritis

Hyaline cartilage

Cartilage

Type II collagen

Chondrogenesis

Collagen, type I, alpha 1

Biochemistry

Medicine

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Several collagen subtypes have been identified in hyaline articular cartilage. The main and most abundant collagens are type II, IX and XI collagens. The minor and less abundant collagens are type III, IV, V, VI, X, XII, XIV, XVI, XXII, and XXVII collagens. All these collagens have been found to play a key role in healthy cartilage, regardless of whether they are more or less abundant. Additionally, an exhaustive evaluation of collagen fibrils in a repaired cartilage tissue after a chondral lesion is necessary to determine the quality of the repaired tissue and even whether or not this repaired tissue is considered hyaline cartilage. Therefore, this review aims to describe in depth all the collagen types found in the normal articular cartilage structure, and based on this, establish the parameters that allow one to consider a repaired cartilage tissue as a hyaline cartilage.

Main and Minor Types of Collagens in the Articular Cartilage: The Role of Collagens in Repair Tissue Evaluation in Chondral Defects