Morphologically, chondrocytes have an eccentric (off-center) nucleus, a large lipid droplet and an abundance of glycogen. In this preparation, the glycogen is magenta and the lipid vacuole is colorless. The lipid was lost when the tissue was prepared and therefore, there is nothing in the vacuole to stain. You will not be able to distinguish the lacunae in this image because the tissue was fixed so well. Lacunae are the spaces that contain the chondrocytes. In poorly fixed tissue, the chondrocytes shrink more than the matrix and spaces are observable. The clusters of chondrocytes are called isogenous groups (HA19, I). All of the cells in an isogenous group had the same precursor cell. Isogenous groups are a result of cell division and along with the production of matrix, they achieve interstitial growth. As more matrix is produced by the chondrocytes, the distance between them increases.