A collagen and elastic network in the wing of the bat
Holbrook, K.A.; Odland, G.F.
Journal of Anatomy 126(Pt 1): 21-36
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-8782 PMID: 649500 Document Number: 128649
Bundles of collagen fibrils, elastic fibers and fibroblasts are organized into a network that lies in the plane of a large portion of the bat wing. Individual bundles of the net were shown by ultrastructural and biochemical analyses to similar to elastic ligaments. Although elastic fibers predominate, they are integrated and aligned parallel with small bundles of collagen. A reticulum of fibroblasts, joined by focal junctions, forms a cellular framework throughout each bundle. Because of the unique features of the fiber bundles of the bat's wing, in particular their accessibility, and the parallel alignment of the collagen fibrils and elastic fibers in each easily isolatable bundle, they should prove a most valuable model for connective tissue studies, particularly for the study of collagen-elastin interactions.