Three-dimensional organization of fibroblasts and collagen fibrils in rat tail tendon

The orderly arrangement of fibroblasts and collagen in tendons and ligaments suggests that these cells may have precise relationships with one another and with the collagen fibrils. The spatial organization of rat tail tendon was therefore examined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy and by reconstructing a 35-microns long segment of tendon from serial transmission electron micrographs. Fibroblasts were regularly arranged in columns and showed more intimate association in the longitudinal than in the transverse plane. Thin cytoplasmic sheets extended up to 3 microns transversely, frequently forming junctional attachments with similar processes from adjacent cells or from the same cell. Longitudinal processes were longer, often extending for more than 20 microns and forming junctional attachments with other cells in the same column. Such processes often exhibited invaginations in which there were single fibrils or small groups of fibrils; this arrangement may be indicative of fibril elongation or may serve to transmit tension between the fibroblast and the collagen fibrils. This organization has interesting implications for the growth and function of other fibrous connective tissue, such as the periodontal ligament.