Rheumatoid Arthritis and effects on joints, hyaline cartilage and other connective tissues.

Kailani Smith

Dr.Larson

Anatomy and Physiology 

STEAM project: Arthritis and connective tissue

For my STEAM project, I will be covering part of the objective of “Describe in depth each type of epithelial and connective tissue. Be able to describe their function and location” More specifically I will be describing connective tissues. In addition I have added the objective of  “state the location of various tissues in the body” as I now see it to be more fit and can focus the objective on just the connective tissues. For my project I have done construction  at home this past weekend and found this to be a comparable topic to how connective tissues connect to each other and can compare the visual of the connective tissues and then how Rheumatoid Arthritis can affect connective tissues over time.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease that mainly affects joints and can potentially affect many organs as well. To specifically focus on what connects to and protects  the joints, is the hyaline cartilage and the synovial membrane, along with the synovial fluid throughout the tissues and joints. Hyaline cartilage can be damaged quickly such as a sports accident, or over time the cartilage can be worn down which eventually leads to problems such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.(Andrei Flavius Radu and Simona Gabriela Bungau, 2021) The hyaline cartilage connects around the joints to provide a layer between bones and at the top of the joints to resist friction. Hyaline cartilage connects with the synovial membrane which has the synovial fluid, the fluid pushes through both the synovial membrane and the hyaline cartilage to provide enough for smooth joint movements.(A. Marsano M.Sc. †, S.J. Millward-Sadler Ph.D. ‡, D.M. Salter M.D. ‡, A. Adesida Ph.D. §, T. Hardingham Ph.D. §, E. Tognana Ph.D. ∥, E. Kon M.D. ¶, C. Chiari-Grisar M.D. #, S. Nehrer M.D. #, M. Jakob M.D. †, I. Martin Ph.D. †, 2007) When Rheumatoid Arthritis develops, the synovial tissues that have now become invasive will go through and begin to cause damage and destroy the connective tissues, cartilage, and other surrounding tissues and muscles etc… During this process, the joints surrounding areas will become inflamed and will start to cause pain which is typically when the person with this condition will start to notice. (Monika Ostrowska 1, Włodzimierz Maśliński 2, Monika Prochorec-Sobieszek 3,4, Michał Nieciecki 5,6, Iwona Sudoł-Szopińska, 2018)

For my visual piece that I worked construction in the house for, we put up 2 by 4 studs on the plywood, added the wiring, insulation, black death (tar), spray foam, seal sill, and the vapor barrier to keep it all in place. While doing research I have decided that since I have focused almost entirely on Hyaline cartilage as it is what wraps around the joints, the sill seal keeps cold air from coming into the building. Additionally this acts as a cartilage because this is keeping the wall and floor joists connected and to stay where they are needed to function. Other majors structures are the 2 by 4 studs, which would be bone because it goes all the way throughout the wall and provides structure and maintains the shape for mapping out wiring and insulation. Insulation is very important to a wall as it keeps the heat in, comparable to adipose tissue as this tissue’s function is insulation, energy storage, organ protection, etc… The areolar tissue is in charge of many things to protect and support including other tissues and muscles, and protecting other organs, the vapor barrier would represent the areolar tissue because the vapor barrier holds everything inside the wall so nothing spills out. Wiring would be the blood of the house, this is because like blood is in charge of transferring oxygen and nutrients, the wiring transfers electricity and is located all throughout the walls. A tendon is a fibrous connective tissue and their purpose is to hold the muscle to bones, along with attaching to structures and letting them move. This would be compared to the spray foam that connects the window to the studs and still lets the window open with how it connects to the sides. Finally, a ligament is a fibrous connective tissue that is located at the end of each bone connecting them to one another typically in joints, their function is to hold the bone together to keep them sturdy. This would be compared to the black death as this tar’s function is to hold the vapor barrier to the studs and walls to keep them connected so nothing falls off or moves around.  

2 by 4 stud- bone, osseous tissue

Plywood- skin

Wiring- blood

Insulation- adipose tissue

Black death(tar)- ligament

Spray foam- tendon

Seal sill- hyaline cartilage 

Vapor barrier- Areolar tissue

See picture on next page. Window and spray foam yet to come! Back of the sheetrock in the rectangle on left.