Figure 1.

Extracellular matrix of articular cartilage. Two major load-bearing macromolecules are present in articular cartilage: Collagens (mainly type II) and proteoglycans (notably, aggrecan). Smaller classes of molecules, such as non-collagenous proteins and smaller proteoglycans, are present in lower amounts. The interaction between the highly negatively charged cartilage proteoglycans and type II collagen provides the compressive and tensile strength of the tissue. Reproduced with permission ¹³. Copyrighted by the Authors (2019).