Slide 22. Fibrocartilage and red bone marrow vertebrae and intervertebral disc, H&E
Covers a slide of the intervertebral disc and vertebral body stained with H&E, showing the fibrocartilage of the annulus fibrosus with its chondrocytes and the thin hyaline plate at the disc margin. It then moves to the spongy bone trabeculae and the red marrow between them, naming its cell types such as megakaryocytes, fat cells and sinusoids. A closing note distinguishes the disc from a tendon by the cell type in the lacunae.
Inside: 1 section · 1 min
Topic 111 of 127 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Cytology (Dental Medicine, Year 1). The free AceMed note covers it in 1 section, about 126 words (1 min of reading).
In this note
Introduction
Introduction
A section through the spine shows fibrocartilage in the intervertebral disc and red bone marrow inside the vertebral body.
Stain
H&E: collagen and bone pink, nuclei blue-purple.
How to recognise it
Annulus fibrosus of the disc: thick parallel bundles of pink collagen, with rows of small chondrocytes in lacunae between them. Few cells and no perichondrium.
A thin plate of hyaline cartilage where the disc meets the vertebra.
Vertebral body: pink trabeculae of spongy bone, with osteocytes in lacunae.
Red marrow between the trabeculae: crowded small, dark blood-forming cells, giant megakaryocytes with lobed nuclei, empty-looking fat cells and sinusoids.
Don't confuse it with: dense regular connective tissue (a tendon), which has fibroblasts rather than chondrocytes in lacunae.
Theory: topics 48 (fibrous cartilage) and 58 (bone marrow).
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