Avascular
Avascular means without blood vessels. Adult articular cartilage is avascular, so its cells get oxygen and nutrients by diffusion through the tissue rather than from a blood supply.
Also called without a blood supply, avascularity.
Articular cartilage has no blood vessels, lymphatics or nerves, and it has a limited capacity to heal (Sophia Fox 2009). Nutrients travel to the chondrocytes with the water that moves through the tissue (Sophia Fox 2009).
Living without a blood supply shapes how cartilage cells run. In growth-plate cartilage during bone development, studied in animals and in cells, chondrocytes depended on glutamine, and glutathione made from it kept reactive oxygen species from building up and let the cells survive in that avascular setting (Stegen 2020).
Sources
- Sophia Fox AJ, Bedi A, Rodeo SA. The basic science of articular cartilage: structure, composition, and function. Sports Health 2009.
- Stegen S, Rinaldi G, Loopmans S et al. Glutamine Metabolism Controls Chondrocyte Identity and Function. Dev Cell 2020.
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