Classify the following and give one example of each

1. Bones based on shape

2. Bones based on development

3. Bones based on structure

4. Joints based on functions

5. Joints based on structure

6. Joints based on number of bones articulating

7. Muscles based on fascicular architecture

8. Muscles based on functional groups

Differentiate between

1. Skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscles

2. Arteries and veins

Classification of Bones

Bones are classified based on:

 Shape

 Structure

 Ossification

 Region

Classification of Bones- according to shape

1. Long bones

 Typical long bones:

 Their length exceeds the breadth.

 They are weight bearing.

 A long bone presents a shaft and two ends.

 The shaft ossifies from primary center of ossification (appears before birth)
and ends ossify from secondary centers of ossification (usually appear after
birth, except lower end of femur and upper end of tibia, where secondary
center of ossification appears just before birth).

 The shaft consists of tube of compact bone which contains medullary cavity
filled with bone marrow.

 The shaft usually has 3 surfaces separated by 3 borders.

 They ossify in cartilages.

 Examples – humerus, femur, radius, ulna, tibia, fibula.

 Miniature long bones: have a shaft and one epiphysis, e.g. Metacarpals, metatarsals
and phalanges. They are mostly confined to limbs.

 Modified long bones: have no medullary cavities, e.g. clavicle and body of vertebra.
2. Short bones

 Their shape is usually cuboid.

 They have a central marrow cavity which is surrounded by spongy bone and a plate
of compact bone outside

 They ossify in cartilage.

 They ossify after birth (except talus, calcaneus and cuboid where ossification begins
before birth).

 Examples – carpals and tarsals.

3. Flat bones

 Consist of two plates of compact bone with intervening spongy tissue (in skull bones
it is called diploe).

 Examples: Bones of vault of skull (frontal, parietal), ribs sternum.

4. Irregular bones

 They are irregular in shape.

 Examples Hip bone, vertebra, bones of base of skull (sphenoid, maxilla, ethmoid).

5. Pneumatic bones

 These bones contain air filled spaces (paranasal air sinuses) that are lined by mucous
membrane.
  They are present around the nasal cavity.

 They help in adding resonance to the voice.

 Examples: Maxilla, sphenoid, ethmoid, frontal.

6. Sesamoid bones

 Examples: patella, pisiform, fabella.

Characteristic features and functions of sesamoid bone:

Sesamoid bones are the bones that are embedded in the tendons e.g. patella in the tendon
of quadriceps femoris and pisiform in the tendon of flexor carpi ulnaris. They have the
following characteristic features:

 They develop in the tendons and ossify after birth.

 They are found where the tendons cross the end of long bones of limbs.

 They are not covered by periosteum.

 They don’t have Haversian system.

 Their surface that comes in contact with the bone is covered by hyaline cartilage.
Functions of sesamoid bone:

• To minimize friction.
• To alter the direction of pull of a muscle.
• To maintain local circulation.

7. Accessory or supernumerary bones

 These bone are not regularly present.

 Are commonest in skulls (sutural or Wormian bones).
 They may be mistaken for fractures.

Classification of Bones- according to the structure

 Compact bone: are dense in texture like ivory: e.g. shaft of the long bones.

 Cancellous bone (spongy or trabecular): are made up of bony trabeculae between

which marrow space are present. e.g. ends of long bones.
Classification of Bones- according to the ossification

 Membranous bones: bones are formed by intramembranous ossification, they ossify

in mesenchymal condensation. e.g. bones of vault of skull ( parietal, frontal &
occipital) and bones of face.

 Cartilaginous bones: bone are formed by endochondral ossification, i.e they ossify in
cartilage. e.g. Bones of limbs (humerus, femur, radius, ulna, fibula,tibia), bones of
base of skull, vertebrae, ribs, sternum.

 Membrano-cartilaginous bones: Some bones partly develop in membrane and

partly in cartilage e.g. mandible, clavicle, occipital, temporal and sphenoid.

Classification of Bones- Regional

• Axial bones: bones of skull, vertebrae, ribs and sternum.

• Appendicular bones: bones of upper (clavicle, scapula, humerus, radius and ulna, carpals,
metacarpals and phalanges) and lower limb (hip bone, femur, tibia, tarsals, metatarsals and
phalanges).
Parts of Developing Long Bone

Following are the parts of a developing long bone are:

Epiphysis: The ends of long bones that ossify from the secondary centre of ossification are
called epiphysis. Epiphyses are made of spongy bone covered by a thin layer of compact
bone.
Diaphysis: The elongated, cylindrical shaft of long bone that ossifies from the primary centre
of ossification. It is made up of compact bone and encloses a tubular cavity called marrow
cavity.
Metaphysis: It is the part of diaphysis that is adjacent to the epiphyseal plate. This is the
most active site of bone formation in the developing bone. It has rich blood supply.
Epiphyseal plate: it is a thin plate of hyaline cartilage placed between the diaphysis and
epiphysis. The continuous proliferation of cartilage cells in the epiphyseal plate is responsible
for the growth of developing bone in length. The epiphyseal plate disappears when the
growth in the length of bone stops.

Parts of an Adult Long Bone

Parts of an adult long bone: Adult long bone has two ends and an intervening shaft.

• Shaft (diaphysis)The shaft of the long bone is composed of the following from outside to

inside

• Periosteum: It is a thick fibro-cellular layer that covers the outer surface of bone except the
articular surfaces which are covered by articular cartilage (hyaline cartilage). It has two
layers:

 Outer fibrous layer

 Inner cellular layer or osteogenic layer (containing osteoprogenitor cells which form
osteoblasts).

 It is united to the underlying bone by Sharpey’s fibers (collagen fibers).

 It has very rich nerve supply and therefore it is the most pain sensitive part of bone.

• Cortex (cortical bone): It is made up of dense compact/cortical bone.

• Marrow cavity: deep to the cortex is the medullary cavity. It is lined by endosteum and is
filled with bone marrow (depending upon age of the individual it can be red or yellow
marrow).

• Ends of long bone (Epiphysis): Are made up of cancellous bone (having bony trabeculae
and marrow spaces (filled with red bone marrow)). The articular surfaces at the ends are
covered by articular (hyaline) cartilage).

b. Bone marrow:

• Is a loose vascular tissue.

• It is present in the medullary cavity of the long bones and marrow spaces of spongy bones.
• It is the site of haemopoiesis.
• There are two types of bone marrow:

o Red bone marrow

o Yellow bone marrow

• At birth the red bone marrow is present in all the bones, it is an active site of hemopoiesis
(blood cell formation).
• As the age advances the red marrow is replace by yellow bone marrow in the medullary
cavity of long long bones.
• In adults, the red marrow is found only in the spongy bones.
• The sites where red bone marrow is found in adults are:
o Iliac crest of hip bone
o Sternum
o Ribs
o Vertebrae
o Ends of long bones
o Skull bones

Types of Epiphysis

Q. Enumerate the types of epiphyses and give one example of each.

A. Types of epiphyses:

1. Pressure epiphysis:

o Is present at the end of the long bone.

o Is articular in nature.

o Takes part in transmission of weight.

o Examples: head of humerus and femur, lower end of radius.

2. Traction epiphysis:

o Is produced due to the pull of the muscle and therefore provide attachment to the
muscle/s.
o Is non-articular
o Is not involved in transmission of weight
o Examples: greater and lesser tubercles of humerus, greater and lesser trochanters of
femur and mastoid process of temporal bone.

3. Atavistic epiphysis:

• Is phylogenetically an independent bone in lower animals but in humans is part of another

bone.
• Examples: coracoids process of scapula, posterior tubercle of talus.
4. Aberrant epiphysis:

• Is not always present but may be present in some individuals.

• Examples: epiphysis at the head of first metacarpal and base of other metacarpals.
* Normally metacarpals have only one epiphysis i.e. base of 1st metacarpal and heads of
other metacarpals.

Pressure epiphyses ossify earlier than the traction epiphyses i.e. secondary center of
ossification appear earlier in pressure epiphyses than in traction epiphyses.

Arterial Supply of Developing Long Bone

Q. Describe the arterial supply of developing long bone.

A. Developing long bone is supplied by the following arteries:
• Nutrient artery:

o It enters the shaft through the nutrient foramen.

o Runs obliquely through the cortex of shaft.
o Reaches medullary cavity and divides into ascending and descending branches.
o These branches reach the metaphysis and form ‘hair pin loops’ and anastomose with the
metaphyseal and epiphyseal arteries.
o The nutrient artery supplies the

 medullary cavity
 inner 2/3rd of cortical bone of diaphysis
 metaphysis

• Periosteal arteries:

o Are branches of neighbouring muscular arteries and therefore they are especially
numerous beneath the muscular attachments.
o They ramify beneath the periosteum and reach the underlying cortical bone through the
Volkman’s canals.
o They supply periosteum, and outer 1/3rd of the cortical bone of shaft.

• Epiphyseal arteries:

o They are derived from the periarticular (around the joint) anastomosis present around the
non-articular surface of ends of long bones.
o They enter the epiphyseal ends through the numerous foramina present in the non
articular part. The number and size of these foramina gives an idea of the vascularity of the
ends of long bones.

• Metaphyseal arteries:

 Numerous arteries arise from the anastomosis around the joint and pierce the
metaphysis along the attachment of the joint capsule

Ossifiction

Q. Describe briefly:

 Ossification centers

 Growing end of the long bone.

 Types of ossification

A. Ossification centers

The process of bone formation is known as ossification. Sites where begins are referred to as
centers of ossification. There are two types of centers of ossification:

 Primary center of
ossification: is the site in the mid region of shaft of long bone where ossification
begins earliest. It forms the main part of the bone (diaphysis in long bones) It usually
appears before birth (usually before the end of the fourth month of . intrauterine
life).

• Secondary center of ossification: The secondary center of ossification usually appear after
birth from which the ends of the developing long bone ossify. They form the epiphyses of
the long bones. In case of femur the secondary center of ossification for the lower end
appears just before birth

Growing end of the long bone

It is that end of the long bone where the epiphysis fuses with the diaphysis later than the
other end (it continues to grow in length a little longer). The growing end of the long bone is
opposite to the direction of the nutrient foramen (exception to the rule is fibula where the
nutrient foramen is directed towards the growing end).

Types of Ossification

Bone can be formed in two ways:

• Intramembranous ossification
• Intracartilagenous or endrochondral ossification

Membranous ossification: In this type of ossification, the mesodermal model is directly

converted into bone by mineralization of the matrix. Most of the flat bones such as frontal
and parietal bones , parts of occipital, temporal, mandible, maxilla and clavicle bones are
formed by intramembranous ossification It can be divided into the following 4 stages:

1. Mesenchymal condensation and appearance of centers of ossification: one or two

centres of ossification appear in the condensed mesenchyme. The center of ossification is
characterised by excessive vascularity and differentiation of mesenchymal cells into
osteoblasts.
2. Formation of osteoid matrix and its calcification: osteoblasts which secrete gelatinous
uncalified matrix and collagen fibers (osteoid). Calcium salts are deposited in the osteoid.
The osteoblasts trapped in mineralized matrix become osteocytes.
3. Formation of spongy ( trabecular) bone: bony lamellae are formed around the blood
vessels and are arranged in the form of trabeculae which are separated by spaces
containing blood cells ( marrow spaces). Thus spongy bone is formed.
4. Formation of compact bone and periosteum: the osteoblasts at the periphery lay down
concentrically arranges bony lamellae, forming osteons (Haversian system) of compact bone
( spongy bone is replaced by compact bone). Outside the compact bone mesenchymal cells
form fibrous periosteum with osteoblasts on inner surface.

Endrochondral ossification: In this type of ossification, firstly a hyaline cartilage model of

bone is formed, which is later replaced by bone. It involves the following 4 stages:

1. Chondrification: mesenchymal cells differentiate into chondroblasts, which form a hyaline

cartilage model for the future bone. At he periphery mesenchymal cells for
perichondriumwhic contains osteogenic cells on the inner surface.
2. Appearance of centres of ossification: one or more centres of ossification appear in the
cartilage model, chondrocytes are first hypertrophied and later they degenerate. matrix is
reduced to thin partitons , which later get calcified.
3 .Formation of Periosteal bone collar :once the matrix is calcified, the perichondium is
now called periosteum. The osteoblasts on the inner surface of periosteum form a layer of
bone beneath the periosteum called periosteal collar of bone.
4. Invasion of periosteal sprouts and osteogenesis: Periosteal sprouts arise from deeper
layer of periosteum (contain blood vessels, osteoblasts and osteoclasts) and invade the
underlying calcified matrix. The osteoclast resorb the matrix to form large interconnecting
spaces called marrow spaces which ultimately join together to form medullary cavity.
Formation of bone in subperiosteal area of diaphysis continues to increase thickness of the
bone ( appositional growth). The growth of bone in length occurs at epiphyseal plate
( interstitial growth).

The epiphyseal plate has five zones:

• Resting zone
• Zone of proliferation
• Zone of hypertrophy
• Zone of calcification and dying chondrocytes
• Zone of ossification
Laws of Ossification

1. Primary center of ossification appears before birth and is usually single. Exception
– Carpals and tarsals ( cuneiforms, navicular) ossifiy after birth and clavicle has 2 primary
centers of ossification.

2. Secondary centres of ossification appear after birth and can be can be single or
multiple. Exception – Lower end of femur and upper end of tibia ( secondary centers at
these ends appear before birth, at the end of the 9th month of intrauterine life).

3 The direction of the nutrient foramen is opposite to the direction of the growing end of
the bone.

4. The secondary center of ossification for pressure epiphysis appear before that of
traction epiphysis (center of ossification in head of humerus ( pressure epiphysis) appears
before that in greater /lesser tubercles (traction epiphyses)).

5. The secondary center of ossification that appears first, fuses last with the shaft of long
bone. Exception – Lower end of fibula ( secondary center for the upper end appears later
but the secondary center for the lower end which appears first fuses earlier with the shaft of
fibula.

6. The secondary centers fuse together to form a single epiphysis (compound epiphysis),
which in turn fuses with the diaphysis. Exception – Upper end of femur has 3 secondary
centers, one each for the head , greater trochanter and lesser trochanter. Each epiphysis
fuses independently ( examples of simple epiphysis) with the shaft in the reverse order of
appearance i.e the lesser trochanter first followed by about 13 years, the greater
trochanter at about 14 years, and the head around 16 years
Applied Aspect

Q. Write the anatomical basis of:

• Cleidocranial dysostosis
• Dwarfism/achondroplasia
• Metaphysis is the common site of osteomyelitis in children

A. Cleidocranial dysostosis: A defect in membranous ossification causes Cleidocranial

dysostosis in which ossification of bones ossifying in membrane that is clavicle and bones of
skull vault are affected. It is characterised by aplasia of clavicle, increase in transverse
diameter of cranium and retardation of ossification of fontanelle.

Dwarfism/Achondroplasia: A defect in endrochondral ossification affects growth and

ossification of bones of limbs, which is responsible for dwarfism/achondroplasia in which the
limbs are short but the trunk is normal. It may be inherited as autosomal dominant genetic
disorder.

Metaphysis is the common site of osteomyelitis in children: Metaphysic is the the area of
very active growth of the bone and has rich blood supply. Before fusion of epiphysis with
diaphysis i.e. in children, the metaphyseal arteries are end arteries that form ‘hair-pin
bends’. The bacteria or infected emboli can be easily trapped in these hair- pin bends of the
metaphyseal arteries causing osteomyelitis.