What is the term for a joint where bones are joined by a bar of hyaline cartilage and is immovable?

• A. Synchondrosis joint
• B. Syndesmosis
• C. Gomphosis
• D. Synostosis

Answer: (A)

Joining bones with a bar of hyaline cartilage that results in no movement describes a synchondrosis. This type of cartilaginous joint uses hyaline cartilage to connect the bones, making it essentially immovable. A classic example is the growth plate between the diaphysis and epiphysis in developing long bones, which is temporary and may ossify as growth ends. This differs from fibrous joints, where connections come from ligaments (syndesmosis), from the tooth-in-socket connection (gomphosis), or from joints that have fully fused into one bone (synostosis). So the term for this immovable, hyaline-cartilage–bridged joint is synchondrosis.