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BIO 304 . WEEK 2 . TUESDAY . LAB WORKBOOK
Connective Tissues
Cells, fibers, and ground substance across loose, dense, cartilage, bone, and blood.
Print this page. You will draw your own diagrams from the directions below, then hand-label the structures listed. Drawing by hand is the integrity mechanism for this course.
1A. What you will draw
Connective tissues bind, support, and protect. They share a common architecture: cells embedded in an extracellular matrix of fibers and ground substance. The TYPE of fibers and the consistency of the ground substance determine the subtype. Draw the major ones.
Box A. Loose vs dense connective tissue
Directions
- Left: draw loose (areolar) connective tissue. Show widely spaced collagen and elastic fibers, with fibroblasts (spindle-shaped cells), adipocytes (large round cells with displaced nucleus), and a macrophage scattered between fibers.
- Center: draw dense regular connective tissue (tendon or ligament). Show tightly packed parallel collagen fibers with rows of fibroblasts between them.
- Right: draw dense irregular connective tissue (dermis). Show thick collagen fibers in a random meshwork with fibroblasts scattered.
- Label fibroblast, adipocyte, macrophage, collagen fiber, elastic fiber.
Draw here. Sketch by hand.
Box B. Cartilage, bone, and blood
Directions
- Left: draw hyaline cartilage. Show chondrocytes inside lacunae (small spaces), embedded in a smooth glassy matrix. Note: no visible fibers under light microscopy.
- Center: draw a piece of compact bone. Show one osteon: concentric rings (lamellae) around a central canal (Haversian canal). Place osteocytes in lacunae, with canaliculi (small connecting channels) between them.
- Right: draw a blood smear. Show many red blood cells (biconcave, no nucleus), one neutrophil (multi-lobed nucleus), one lymphocyte (large round nucleus). The yellow background is plasma (the fluid matrix).
- Label chondrocyte, lacuna, osteocyte, osteon, central canal, canaliculus, red blood cell, white blood cell, plasma.
Draw here. Sketch by hand.
1C. Structures to label (17)
After you finish each drawing, label every structure below directly on your sketch.
- Fibroblast
- Adipocyte
- Macrophage
- Mast cell
- Chondrocyte
- Lacuna
- Osteocyte
- Osteon
- Collagen fiber
- Elastic fiber
- Reticular fiber
- Ground substance
- Central canal
- Canaliculus
- Red blood cell
- White blood cell
- Plasma
Part 2 of 2
Physiology Lab
2A. Match the cell to the tissue and the job
For each connective tissue cell below, name (a) the tissue it is found in, and (b) one specific function it performs in that tissue.
2B. Synthesis questions
Answer each in 2 to 4 sentences. Use the language from this week's lecture and your drawings as evidence.
1. A patient tears their anterior cruciate ligament. Describe the connective tissue that was torn (cells, fibers, arrangement). Why does this tissue heal so slowly?
2. Cartilage has no blood vessels (it's avascular). Predict how this affects healing after an injury, and explain why athletes with cartilage damage often face long recoveries.
3. Blood is classified as a connective tissue even though it doesn't 'connect' anything visually. Argue, in two or three sentences, why this classification is defensible based on its architecture.
3. What to submit
Complete both the Anatomy Lab (your own drawings, hand-labeled, plus the structures list) and the Physiology Lab (activity and synthesis questions). Photograph or scan every page and upload to Canvas before the deadline listed on the schedule. Hand-drawn, hand-labeled work is the integrity mechanism for this course. Typed or AI-generated diagrams are not accepted.