8 Chapter 1 Introduction to the Human Body

Markings on the Bones

Various surface features of bones (ridges, grooves,
and bumps) result from the tension placed on them
Long bone Flat bone
(humerus) (parietal)
by the attachment of tendons, ligaments, and fascia,
as well as by neurovascular bundles or other
structures that pass along the bone. Descriptively,
these features include the following:
• Condyle: a rounded articular surface covered
with articular (hyaline) cartilage.
Irregular bone • Crest: a ridge (narrow or wide) of bone.
Short bones
(carpals)
(vertebra) • Epicondyle: a prominent ridge or eminence
superior to a condyle.
• Facet: a flat, smooth articular surface, usually
covered with articular (hyaline) cartilage.
• Fissure: a very narrow “slitlike” opening in
Sesamoid bone a bone.
(patella)
• Foramen: a round or oval “hole” in the bone
for passage of another structure (nerve or vessel).
FIGURE 1.6 Bone Classification Based on Shape.
• Fossa: a “cuplike” depression in the bone, usually
for articulation with another bone.
• Groove: a furrow in the bone.
• Line: a fine linear ridge of bone, but less promi-
There are two types of bone: nent than a crest.
• Compact: is a relatively solid mass of bone, • Malleolus: a rounded eminence.
commonly seen as a superficial layer of bone, • Meatus: a passageway or canal in a bone.
that provides strength. • Process: a bony prominence that may be sharp
• Spongy (trabecular or cancellous): is a less dense or blunt.
trabeculated network of bone spicules making • Protuberance: a protruding eminence on an
up the substance of most bones and surrounding otherwise smooth surface.
an inner marrow cavity. • Ramus: a thin part of a bone that joins a thicker
Long bones also are divided into the following process of the same bone.
descriptive regions (Fig. 1.7): • Spine: a sharp process projecting from a bone.
• Epiphysis: the ends of long bones, which develop • Trochanter: large, blunt process for muscle
from secondary ossification centers. tendon or ligament attachment.
• Epiphysial plate: the site of growth in length; • Tubercle: a small, elevated process.
it contains cartilage in actively growing bones. • Tuberosity: a large, rounded eminence that may
• Metaphysis: the site where the bone’s shaft joins be coarse or rough.
the epiphysis and epiphysial plate.
Bone Development
• Diaphysis: the shaft of a long bone, which
represents the primary ossification center and Bones develop in one of the following two ways:
the site where growth in width occurs. • Intramembranous formation: most flat bones
As a living, dynamic tissue, bone receives a rich develop in this way by direct calcium deposition
blood supply from: into a mesenchymal (primitive mesoderm)
• Nutrient arteries: usually one or several larger precursor or model of the bone.
arteries that pass through the diaphysis and • Endochondral formation: most long and
supply the compact and spongy bone, as well irregularly shaped bones develop by calcium
as the bone marrow. deposition into a cartilaginous model of the bone
• Metaphysial and epiphysial arteries: usually arise that provides a scaffold for the future bone.
from articular branches supplying the joint. The following sequence of events defines endo-
• Periosteal arteries: numerous small arteries chondral bone formation (Fig. 1.7, A-F):
from adjacent vessels that supply the compact • Formation of a thin collar of bone around a
bone. hyaline cartilage model.

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