Bone and Cartilage

Before break we were learning about bone and cartilage. First we looked at the two different types of bone. There is Trabecular or Spongy bone which gives strength to the end of bones. The second type is Cortical or Compact bone which forms the outside of the shaft of the bone. Dr. Hens often uses the example of the cowboy to explain how bone can reform itself because of forces acting upon it. We then looked at the different parts of the compact bone. The osteon is a unit of bone, or the central cavity. Osteocytes are cells that make up bones and they sit in the bone matrix. The Lacunae is the space between the bones. The three types of cells that are in bones are Osteocytes, Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts.

Hyaline Cartilage is located in the long bone and trachea and is mostly water. Fibrocartilage is located in the spine and meniscus and there is a lot of resistance because of dense collagen. Elastic cartilage is located in the ears and nose.

I found an article on Osteoporosis that had some interesting facts on it. It states that Osteoporosis is the most common type of bone disease and that one in five American females over the age of 50 suffer from the disease (ADAM Medical Encyclopedia). The articles also discusses risk factors as well as symptoms.

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001400/