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In osteology, the osteon or haversian system (/ h ə ˈ v ɜːr. ʒ ən /; named for Clopton Havers) is the fundamental functional unit of much compact bone. Osteons are roughly cylindrical structures that are typically between 0.25 mm and 0.35 mm in diameter . [ 1 ]
It facilitates bone's main functions—to support the whole body, to protect organs, to provide levers for movement, and to store and release chemical elements, mainly calcium. It consists of multiple microscopic columns, each called an osteon or Haversian system.
However, in the process of bone formation, osteoblasts function in groups of connected cells. Individual cells cannot make bone. A group of organized osteoblasts together with the bone made by a unit of cells is usually called the osteon. Osteoblasts are specialized, terminally differentiated products of mesenchymal stem cells. [1]
A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, function, disease, pathology, the process of ossification from cartilaginous molds, and the resistance and hardness of bones .
The periosteum is a membrane that covers the outer surface of all bones, [1] except at the articular surfaces (i.e. the parts within a joint space) of long bones. (At the joints of long bones the bone's outer surface is lined with "articular cartilage", a type of hyaline cartilage.)
Materials picked up by osteocytes adjacent to blood vessels are distributed throughout the bone matrix via the canaliculi. Diameter of canaliculi in human bone is approximately 200 to 900 nm. [ 1 ] In bovine tibia diameter of canaliculi was found to vary from 155 to 844 nm (average 426 nm). [ 2 ]
The outer surface of a bone is lined by a thin layer of connective tissue that is very similar in morphology and function to endosteum. It is called the periosteum , or the periosteal surface. During bone growth , the width of the bone increases as osteoblasts lay new bone tissue at the periosteum.
An osteocyte, an oblate shaped type of bone cell with dendritic processes, is the most commonly found cell in mature bone. It can live as long as the organism itself. [1] The adult human body has about 42 billion of them. [2]