Ground substance of cartilage

Ground substance of cartilage appears homogenous in fresh condition or in ordinary preparations. Only the walls of the lacunae stand out as mere refractive rings intensely staining with basic dyes. These rings are called capsules.

These are not of the nature of cell membranes but represent considerations of the matrix surrounding the cells. 

The ground substance or matrix masks the fine collagenous fibres, which are present in the apparently homogenous intercellular substance because both have the same refractive index.

The ground substance is strongly metachromatic with toluidine blue and is slightly basophilic but the superichondrial layer is acidophilic.

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