Cartilage is the smooth, bendy stuff in your joints, ears, and nose. Chondroprogenitors are cells that can become new cartilage cells.
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Cartilage is smooth and bendy. It covers the ends of bones in your joints and gives shape to your ears and nose.
Cartilage cells live in little pockets. Each cell is wrapped in a thin, soft cushion layer called the pericellular matrix.
Some of these cells are chondroprogenitors. Scientists think many of them sit near the surface of the cartilage in joints.
Gently bend the top of your ear, or wiggle the tip of your nose. That bendy part is cartilage!
Chondroprogenitors are a bit like stem cells. They can split, and the new cells can grow into cartilage cells.
Cartilage has no blood vessels at all. Its cells get their food from fluid that soaks in, a bit like a sponge.
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