Has a perichondrium (except articular cartilage of long bone)
- Extracellular Matrix (ECM)
- - Type II collagen (Type IX / Type XI less abundant)
- - GAGs & multiadhesive glycoproteins
- - Proteoglycans (aggrecan molecules)
Chondroitin sulfate & Keratin sulfate chains (each GAGs) attach to a core protein, which then attach via linker proteins to hyaluronine to make up aggrecan (a proteoglycan)