Microscopic structure of a bone

Bone is a specialized connective tissue composed of

calcified intercellular material, the bone matrix, and
three cell types.
Unlike other connective tissues, bone has both
organic and inorganic components.
Has cells, fibers, and ground substance.
Has also inorganic components (mineral salts) that
invade the bony matrix, making bone tissue hard.
Bone contains less water than other connective
tissues.
 Extracellular Matrix
As with other connective tissues, it is the unique
composition of the matrix that gives bone its
exceptional physical properties.
Organic components account for 35% of the
tissue mass.
These organic substances, particularly collagen,
contribute the flexibility and tensile strength
that allow bone to resist stretching and twisting.
Collagen is remarkably abundant in bone tissue.
 Inorganic hydroxyapatites (salts, primarily calcium
phosphate) accounts 65% by mass.
The presence of salt mineral provides exceptional
hardness to the bones which enables it to resist
compression.
The high content of collagen makes the bones extra
strength and flexibility which otherwise would be
brittle if it is formed only from salt mineral.
 Cells
Three types of cells in bone tissue produce or maintain
the tissue: osteogenic cells, osteoblasts, and osteocytes.
Osteogenic cells are stem cells that differentiate into
bone-forming osteoblasts.
Osteoblasts are cells that actively produce and secrete
the organic components of the bone matrix (osteoid):
the ground substance and the collagen fibers.
 Osteoblasts are located exclusively at the
surfaces of bone matrix.
 Within a week, inorganic calcium salts crystallize
within the osteoid.
Once osteoblasts are completely surrounded by bone
matrix and are no longer producing new osteoid,
they are called osteocytes.
Osteocytes function to keep the bone matrix healthy.
 Individual osteoblasts are gradually surrounded by
their own secretion and become osteocytes enclosed
singly within spaces called lacunae.
An osteocyte and its processes occupy each lacuna
and the canaliculi radiating from it.
Osteocytes maintain
the calcified matrix
and receive nutrients
from blood vessels
via very small
channels through the
matrix called
canaliculi.
 Osteoclasts are monocyte-derived cells in bone
which are important in bone remodeling.
Break down bone by secreting hydrochloric acid,
which dissolves the mineral component of the
matrix, and lysosomal enzymes, which digest the
organic components.
 In areas of bone undergoing resorption, osteoclasts
lie within enzymatically etched depressions or crypts
in the matrix known as resorption bays (formerly
called Howship lacunae) (down arrows).
 Bones are classified by their shape as long,
short, flat, or irregular.
1. Long bones- longer than they are wide
A long bone has a shaft plus two distinct ends.
Most bones in the limbs are long bones.
The bones of the fingers, toes, arm thigh, leg,
fore arm, etc. are long bones.
2. Short bones- roughly cube-shaped.
Bones of wrist and the ankle
3. Sesamoid bones-are a special type of short bone
that forms within a tendon. E.g. patella.
Alter the direction of pull of a tendon.
Reduce abrasion or tearing.
4. Flat bones-thin, flattened, and usually somewhat
curved
Most cranial bones, ribs, sternum, and scapula.
5. Irregular bones-vertebrae and hip bones, facial
bones
 Gross observation of bone in cross section shows
dense areas generally without cavities-corresponding
to compact bone-and areas with numerous
interconnecting cavities-corresponding to cancellous
(spongy) bone.
In living tissue the
compact bone is covered
externally with
periosteum and all
surfaces of cancellous
bone are covered with
endosteum.
 Compact bone- a dense outer layer that looks
smooth and solid to the naked eye.
Spongy (trabecular) bone-internal to compact bone
The interior of all bones
consists largely of spongy
bone.
However, the very center
of the diaphysis of long
bones contains no bone
tissue at all and is called
the medullary cavity filled
with yellow bone
marrow.
 A typical long bone has
1. Tubular diaphysis (shaft)-
forms the long axis of a
long bone
2. Epiphyses are the bone
ends .
epiphysis is covered with a
thin layer of hyaline cartilage-
articular cartilage.
Epiphyseal line in adults-
remnant of the epiphyseal
plate between epiphysis and
diaphysis
 In long bones, the bulbous ends-called epiphyses -are
composed of spongy bone covered by a thin layer of
compact bone.
The cylindrical part-the diaphysis -is almost totally
composed of compact bone, with a thin component
of spongy bone on its inner surface around the bone
marrow cavity.
Short bones usually have a core of spongy bone
surrounded completely by compact bone.
The flat bones that form the calvaria have two layers
of compact bone called plates (tables), separated by
a thicker layer of spongy bone called the diplo.
 The main vessels serving the diaphysis are a nutrient
artery and a nutrient vein.
Together these run through a hole in the wall of the
diaphysis, the nutrient foramen.
The nutrient artery runs inward to supply the bone
marrow and the spongy bone.
 The interior of all bones consists largely of spongy bone.
However, the very center of the diaphysis of long bones
contains no bone tissue at all and is called the medullary
cavity filled with yellow bone marrow.
The spaces between the trabeculae of spongy bone are also
filled with marrow

17
 A connective tissue membrane called the
periostem covers the entire outer surface of
each bone except on the ends of the
epiphyses, where articular cartilage occurs.
Has two sub layers: a
superficial layer which
resists tension placed on
a bone during bending,
and a deep layer
 The outer dense fibrous layer consists of collagen bundles
and fibroblast.
Bundles of periosteal collagen fibers, called perforating(or
Sharpey's) fibers, penetrate the bone matrix, binding the
periosteum to bone.
The innermost cellular layer of the periosteum contains
mesenchymal stem cells called osteoprogenitor cells, with
the potential to divide by mitosis and differentiate into
osteoblasts.
Osteoprogenitor cells play a prominent role in bone
growth and repair.
 This deep layer is osteogenic, containing bone-
depositing cells (osteoblasts) and bone destroying
cells (osteoclasts).
These cells remodel bone surfaces throughout our
lives.
indistinguishable from the fibroblasts.
During periods of bone growth or deposition, the
osteogenic cells differentiate into osteoblasts.
These osteoblasts produce the layers of bone tissue
that encircle the perimeter of the bone, the
circumferential lamellae.
 The periosteum is richly supplied with nerves and
blood vessels, which is why broken bones are
painful and bleed profusely.
Whereas periosteum covers the external surface of
bones, internal bone surfaces are covered by a
much thinner connective tissue membrane called
endosteum.
Specifically, endosteum covers the trabeculae of
spongy bone; it also lines the central canals of
osteons.
Like periosteum, endosteum is osteogenic,
containing both osteoblasts and osteoclasts.
 Structure of Short, Irregular, and Flat Bones
Same composition as long
bones: periosteum-covered
compact bone externally
and endosteum-covered
spongy bone internally.
Have no diaphysis.
They contain bone marrow
(between the trabeculae of
their spongy bone), but no
marrow cavity is present.
In flat bones, the internal
spongy bone is called diplo.
 Primary (woven) and secondary (lamellar) bone
Primary bone is newly formed, immature bone, rich
in osteocytes, and collagen having numerous
osteoclasts and osteoblasts .
Secondary or mature bone shows matrix organized as
lamellae (concentric lines around osteonic canals)
 Primary Bone Tissue
Is the first bone tissue to appear in embryonic
development and in fracture repair.
It is characterized by random disposition of fine
collagen fibers and is therefore often called woven
bone.
Primary bone tissue is usually temporary and is
replaced in adults by secondary bone tissue except in
a very few places in the body
Have a lower mineral content and a higher proportion
of osteocytes than that in secondary bones.
 Secondary Bone Tissue (lamellar bone)
Is the type usually found in
adults.
Characteristically shows
multiple layers of calcified
matrix.
The lamellae are quite
organized, either parallel to
each other or concentrically
around a vascular canal.
 Each complex of concentric bony lamellae
surrounding a small canal containing blood vessels,
nerves, and loose connective tissue is called an
osteon (haversian system).
Lacunae with osteocytes are found between the
lamellae, interconnected by canaliculi which allow all
cells to be in contact with the source of nutrients and
oxygen in the osteonic canal.
The outer boundary of each osteon is a more
collagen-rich layer called the cement line.