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The skeleton is a large organ that is formed and degraded throughout life in the air-breathing vertebrates. The skeleton, often referred to as the skeletal system, is important both as a supporting structure and for maintenance of calcium, phosphate, and acid-base status in the whole organism. [5]
An osteoclast can also be an instrument used to fracture and reset bones (the origin is Greek osteon: bone and klastos: broken). To avoid confusion, the cell was originally termed osotoclast. When the surgical instrument went out of use, the cell became known by its present name.
The Haversian canal contains the bone's blood supplies. The boundary of an osteon is the cement line. Each Haversian canal is surrounded by varying number (5-20) of concentrically arranged lamellae of bone matrix. Near the surface of the compact bone, the lamellae are arranged parallel to the surface; these are called circumferential lamellae.
The spaces the cell body of osteocytes occupy within the mineralized collagen type I matrix are known as lacunae, while the osteocyte cell processes occupy channels called canaliculi. The many processes of osteocytes reach out to meet osteoblasts, osteoclasts, bone lining cells, and other osteocytes probably for the purposes of communication ...
The cell body varies in size from 5–20 micrometers in diameter and contain 40–60 cell processes per cell, [4] with a cell to cell distance between 20–30 micrometers. [3] A mature osteocyte contains a single nucleus that is located toward the vascular side and has one or two nucleoli and a membrane. [5]
Bone is resorbed by osteoclasts, and is deposited by osteoblasts in a process called ossification. [6] Osteocyte activity plays a key role in this process. Conditions that result in a decrease in bone mass can either be caused by an increase in resorption or by a decrease in ossification. During childhood, bone formation exceeds resorption.
Osteoblasts begin the process of forming bone tissue by secreting the osteoid as several specific proteins. The osteoid and its adjacent bone cells have developed into new bone tissue when it becomes mineralized. Osteoid makes up about fifty percent of bone volume and forty percent of bone weight. It is composed of fibers and ground substance.
This constitutes the so-called capsule of the space. Each lacuna is generally occupied by a single cell, but during the division of the cells, it may contain two, four, or eight cells. Lacunae are found between narrow sheets of calcified matrix that are known as lamellae ( / l ə ˈ m ɛ l i / lə- MEL -ee ).