Question

Tendons and ligaments are composed mainly of dense irregular connective tissue. True or false?

Answer 1

Tendons and ligaments are predominantly made of dense regular connective tissue, not dense irregular connective tissue, providing them with tensile strength and resistance to stretching in specific directions.

Step-by-step explanation:

It is false that tendons and ligaments are composed mainly of dense irregular connective tissue. Both tendons and ligaments are composed predominantly of dense regular connective tissue. Tendons, which connect muscles to bones, and many ligaments, which connect bones to bones, are composed of collagen fibers that are packed into parallel bundles. This arrangement provides great tensile strength and resistance to stretching in the direction of the fiber orientation. It's important to note that while ligaments generally contain dense regular connective tissue, some ligaments also have fibers that are not parallel, and certain ligaments also include elastic fibers to allow them to return to their original length after stretching.

Answer 2

The answer is false.

This is because both of them consist of dense regular connective tissue enveloped with dense irregular connective tissue sheaths. Their structure is very similar, but the function differs. A tendon is a fibrous connective tissue which attaches muscle to bone while ligament attaches bone to bone to form joints. Both are part of the skeletal system.