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Cartilage

(Science: pathology) connective tissue dominated by extracellular matrix containing collagen type II and large amounts of proteoglycan, particularly chondroitin sulphate.

cartilage is more flexible and compressible than bone and often serves as an early skeletal framework, becoming mineralised as the animal ages. Cartilage is produced by chondrocytes that come to lie in small lacunae surrounded by the matrix they have secreted.