732 TIlE JOURNAL OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY ARTICULAR CARTILAGE: A REVIEW AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDY I. The Interterritorial Fibrillar Architecture

The structure ol articular cartilage has received considerable attention since Hunter (I 743) suggested that the tissue contained a fibrous component orientated mainly vertical to the joint surface. This radial system of fibres was apparently anchored in the subchondral bone and further supported by an interlacing system of transverse fibres. Overlying these fibres was a well defined layer, or “skin”, which formed thejoint surface and could in fact be peeled offin strips. This concept of a fibrous structure within articular cartilage was supported by the work of Ranvier (1875), Von Ebner (1882) and Van der Stricht (1885), although studies by Hassall (1849), K#{246}lliker(1854) and Schafer (1891) suggested that the tissue was homogeneous and did flot therefore contain fibres. However, Hansen (1900, 1905) suggested that cartilage only appeared homogeneous because the fibres were masked by “hyaline”, the interfibrillar componelit. F1G. I Various zones described by light microscope (Policard 1936), transmission electron microscope (Davies ci al. 1962) and scanning electron microscope (present study). The areas scanned at nominal magnifications in this study ar