Cancellous/Trabecular bone structure

• Cancellous/Trabecular/Spongy Bone:

  • Trabeculae = struts of bone
  • Each strut is formed of plates of mineralised unidirectional collagen
  • Struts = a network of bone - honeycomb appearance
  • Produces a light-weight tissue
  • Light but very very strong!

  A) cancellous bone

  
• Cancellous/Trabecular/Spongy Bone:

  • Spaces filled with bone marrow (in vivo)
  • Found:
  • In long bones – making up the epiphyses
  • In other bones – main body of the bone

  
• • Architecturally, cancellous bone is composed of rods and plates running at various angles – orientated along the lines of stress the bone is subject to
  • this allows it to play a huge role in weight dissipation
• Microscopic Structure: Trabecular / cancellous bone is:

  • Highly organised – lines of stress
  • High levels of interconnectivity
  • Both of which lead to efficient force dissipation, directing force outwards towards compact bone
  • Beautifully designed for load bearing / coping with compressional forces
• Where would you expect to find cancellous bone?

  • places that require load bearing or coping with compressional forces
  • such as the vertebrae or the head of femur
• Cancellous bone - Blood Supply:

  • Cancellous bone is porous (contains many holes) so capillaries can wend their way through – supplying osteocytes in their lacunae etc
  • And so no canal system required is in cancellous bone
• Summary: structure cancellous bone

  • Bone is made from collagen which has inherent tensile strength
  • Arranged to form trabeculae – provides an excellent ability to resist / cope with compressional forces
  • Hence location = weightbearing locations - epiphyses of long weightbearing bones, calcanei & Spinal vertebrae in particular