Development and Growth of Bone Flashcards
What are the functions of bone?
Support of the body shape System of levers for muscle action Protection of internal organs Site of blood cell formation Mineral storage pool
What are the 2 distinct mechanical properties of bone?
- Cable-like flexibility and resistance to tension because framework is collagen + other bone proteins (= osteoid)
- Pillar-like stiffness and resistance to compression conferred by impregnation of collagen with crystalline mineral (hydroxyapatite – a complex calcium hydroxyphosphate)
What are the 2 main types of bone tissue? Which one is found in adults?
Two main types of bone tissue:
- Woven (immature) bone -> more random organisation
- Lamellar (mature) bone -> concentrical circles around a central canal
- In adults woven bone is only found in repairing fractures
What is the arrangement of lamellar bone?
- Outer hard layer of compact lamellar bone (cortical bone)
- Inner layer of interlacing struts of lamellar bone: cancellous bone (= spongy or trabecular bone) -> makes the bone lighter and provides space for BM
- (be careful not to confuse cancellous bone with woven (immature) bone)
What is the structural unit of compact bone?
Osteon
-> central canal with vessles and concentric lamellae (cells with lots of Ca2+ salt deposits)
What is trabecular bone?
= spongy / cancellous bone
- it is irregularity arranged but made up of lammetlar bone
- do not confuse with woven bone
What is the blood supply of bones like?
- rich
- veins run along with arteries
Long bones:
- the nutrient artery enters though a nutrient canal
- there are metaphyseal arteries
What is the periosteum?
- it is the outer surface of bone
- Fibrous and cellular layer:
- Key roles in bone growth and repair
- Vascular
- Good sensory nerve supply
Development of osteoclasts
- modified immune cells, develops from similar lineage
- its job is often to dissolve calcium
- often a target in older individuals, especially post-menopausal women
When do bones start and stop developing?
Start at 6w in utero, end at about 25 years of age in some bones
What are the 2 types of ossification and what do they involve generally speaking?
- intramembranous (flat bones e.g. skull or mandible)
- endochondral (within existing cartilaginous models, cartilage calcifies and chondrocytes die)
Intramembranous bone development
- In existing vascular connective tissue -> signals for bone to develop there
- Bone matrix (ostein) is deposited around collagen
- Mineralises to form woven bone
- Remodels to lamellar bone later
- in flat bones such as the skull or mandible
Endochondral bone development
- Within existing fetal cartilage models (first a cartilage model is made and then it calcifies and forms the bone)
- Cartilage calcifies and chondrocytes die
- Periosteal osteoclasts cut channels for sprouting vessels
- Osteoblasts enter with vessels to build bone round them
- more common
Endochondral ossification Growth in bone length - long bones must support a lot of weight while growing, how is this done?
- Most long bones must support large forces while growing
- These would disrupt terminal appositional growth
Solution? - Shaft ossifies first, followed by epiphyses
- Growth continues by ossification at growing cartilage plate between them
- Growth cessation when cartilage growth ceases and plate is over-run by ossification
- epiphyseal plate closes quite late
Bone elongation = epiphyseal growth
Age related changes in the appearance of normal bone (on x-ray)
- In child’s wrist (lower) epiphyses ossify in 2nd year
- Epiphyseal plates (dark) remain cartilaginous until growth ceases after puberty
- Not breaks, there are natural epiphyseal plates, places where growth takes place.
- In childen this is normal
- When seeing an X-ray like this ask for the age
- Cartilage is dark on x-ray
