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Review
. 2021 Dec 11;22(24):13329.
doi: 10.3390/ijms222413329.

Main and Minor Types of Collagens in the Articular Cartilage: The Role of Collagens in Repair Tissue Evaluation in Chondral Defects

Lourdes Alcaide-Ruggiero  1   2 , Verónica Molina-Hernández  3 , María M Granados  1 , Juan M Domínguez  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Main and Minor Types of Collagens in the Articular Cartilage: The Role of Collagens in Repair Tissue Evaluation in Chondral Defects

Lourdes Alcaide-Ruggiero et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Several collagen subtypes have been identified in hyaline articular cartilage. The main and most abundant collagens are type II, IX and XI collagens. The minor and less abundant collagens are type III, IV, V, VI, X, XII, XIV, XVI, XXII, and XXVII collagens. All these collagens have been found to play a key role in healthy cartilage, regardless of whether they are more or less abundant. Additionally, an exhaustive evaluation of collagen fibrils in a repaired cartilage tissue after a chondral lesion is necessary to determine the quality of the repaired tissue and even whether or not this repaired tissue is considered hyaline cartilage. Therefore, this review aims to describe in depth all the collagen types found in the normal articular cartilage structure, and based on this, establish the parameters that allow one to consider a repaired cartilage tissue as a hyaline cartilage.

Keywords: chondral defect repair; hyaline articular cartilage; main collagens; minor collagens.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Masson’s trichrome staining of a representative section of healthy hyaline cartilage. (A) Cartilage zones. (B) Regions of the ECM.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of collagen biosynthesis. (1) Gene transcription. (2) Formation of α-chains. (3) Formation of triple helix procollagen and secretion into extracellular space. (4) Procollagen processing and formation of tropocollagen. (5) Association of tropocollagen molecules to form collagen structures.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Classification of collagen types based on their structural and organisation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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