Dense irregular connective tissue

Dense irregular - connective tissue proper Function: Able to withstand tension exerted in many directions; provides structural strength Location: Fibrous capsules of organs and of joints; dermis of the skin; submucosa of digestive tract

Dense connective tissue dense irregular and dense regular

dense irregular connective tissue

Dense irregular connection is similar to dense regular tissues, however the collagen fibers run in all directions. This aids in stretch in all directions rather than just left to right. This type of tissue makes up almost all of the dermis.

This tissue is called irregular dense connective tissue. This resists stretch in ALL directions (unlike regular dense connective, which only resists stretch from left to right). Fun fact: the dermis is mostly dense irregular tissue!

10 b Connective tissue loose areolar ...adipose... Dense regular...mucoid

Dense Irregular Connective Tissue

(a) Dense regular connective tissue consists of collagenous fibers packed into parallel bundles. (b) Dense irregular connective tissue consists of collagenous fibers interwoven into a mesh-like network. From top, LM × 1000, LM × 200. (Micrographs provided by the Regents of University of Michigan Medical School © 2012)

connective tissue chart name description reticular connective tissue located in: spleen, lymph nodes darkly stained, highly branched, cherry areolar connective