What surrounds the medullary cavity
Mia Horton
Updated on April 22, 2026
The periosteum is a layer of fibrous tissue that covers the bone. Compact bone is the dense, hard, smooth outer part of a bone. It surrounds the medullary cavity and contains blood vessels and nerves.
What covers the medullary cavity?
The medullary cavity has a delicate membranous lining called the endosteum. The outer surface of bone, except in regions covered with articular cartilage, is covered with a fibrous membrane called the periosteum.
What is medullary cavity?
The medullary cavity is the hollow part of bone that contains bone marrow. The bone marrow makes blood cells and stores fat. Spongy bone (also called cancellous bone) is made up of small, needle-like pieces of bone arranged like a honeycomb.
What forms the medullary cavity?
After spongy bone is formed in the diaphysis, osteoclasts break down the newly formed bone to open up the medullary cavity. The cartilage in the epiphyses continues to grow so the developing bone increases in length. Later, usually after birth, secondary ossification centers form in the epiphyses.What are medullary cavities?
The medullary cavity (medulla, innermost part) is the central cavity of bone shafts where red bone marrow and/or yellow bone marrow (adipose tissue) is stored; hence, the medullary cavity is also known as the marrow cavity.
What membrane surrounds cartilage?
Cartilage, like bone, is surrounded by a perichondrium-like fibrous membrane.
Where are the osteocytes?
Between the rings of matrix, the bone cells (osteocytes) are located in spaces called lacunae. Small channels (canaliculi) radiate from the lacunae to the osteonic (haversian) canal to provide passageways through the hard matrix.
What is medullary cavity and its function?
The medullary cavity is the space within the long bones of the body below the layer of compact bone tissue. The compact bone tissue is what gives the long bone its strength when providing support to the bone and withstanding the force of muscle attachment during the flexing of muscles.What are the rings formed by the osteocytes called?
The osteocytes are arranged in concentric rings of bone matrix called lamellae (little plates), and their processes run in interconnecting canaliculi.
Where is the periosteum located?The periosteum is a membranous tissue that covers the surfaces of your bones. The only areas it doesn’t cover are those surrounded by cartilage and where tendons and ligaments attach to bone. The periosteum is made up of two distinct layers and is very important for both repairing and growing bones.
Article first time published onWhat is the name of the membrane that surrounds a long bone?
The tough, thin outer membrane covering the bones is called the periosteum.
What do you mean by osteocytes?
osteocyte, a cell that lies within the substance of fully formed bone. It occupies a small chamber called a lacuna, which is contained in the calcified matrix of bone. Osteocytes derive from osteoblasts, or bone-forming cells, and are essentially osteoblasts surrounded by the products they secreted.
Where is the epiphyseal line?
The structure indicated is the epiphyseal line. The epiphyseal plate is a plate of hyaline cartilage found in children and adolescents, located in the metaphysis at the ends of each long bone. Long bones consist of a diaphysis, metaphysis and epiphysis.
What type of bone marrow is in the medullary cavity?
Red bone marrow is primarily found in the medullary cavity of flat bones such as the sternum and pelvic girdle. This type of bone marrow contains hematopoietic stem cells, which are the stem cells that form blood cells.
What is the main purpose of extracellular matrix surrounding osteocytes?
What is the main purpose of the extracellular matrix surrounding osteocytes? An organelle found in most cells and is a continuation of the endomembrane system and functions to package proteins for dispersal throughout the cell, or even to the outside of the cell via secretory vesicles.
Do osteocytes have lysosomes?
Under the electron microscope, there were a few lysosomes, mitochondria, and rough endoplasmic reticulum in the cytoplasm, and the Golgi complex was also underdeveloped. … Therefore, osteocytes form an extensive connecting syncytium network via small cytoplasmic/dendritic processes in canaliculi.
What organelles do osteocytes have?
Osteocytes, also known as bone cells, have all the organelles found in other eukaryotic cells, such as a nucleus, mitochondria, cell membrane and endoplasmic reticulum. They have only one nucleus.
What is perichondrium composed of?
The perichondrium is an irregular connective tissue that is composed of two layers: the outer fibrous layer and the inner chondrogenic layer. The outer fibrous layer contains fibroblasts, which produce collagenous fibers that provide the skin with structure and strengthen bones.
Is lamella present in cartilage?
In histology, a lacuna is a small space, containing an osteocyte in bone, or chondrocyte in cartilage.
What membrane surrounds cartilage and what is its function?
Perichondrium can be found around the perimeter of elastic cartilage and hyaline cartilage. Perichondrium is a type of irregular collagenous ordinary connective tissue, and also functions in the growth and repair of cartilage. Perichondrium contains type I collagen and type XII collagen.
What canal connects Osteons to each other?
Volkmann’s canals, also known as perforating holes or channels, are anatomic arrangements in cortical bones. Volkmann’s canals are inside osteons. They interconnect the haversian canals with each other and the periosteum.
What is the name of the canal that connects Osteons to another Osteons?
Osteons are connected to each other and the periosteum by oblique channels called Volkmann’s canals or perforating canals.
What is the microscopic subunit that makes up bone called?
The microscopic structural unit of compact bone is called an osteon, or Haversian system. Each osteon is composed of concentric rings of calcified matrix called lamellae (singular = lamella).
Which of the following are functions of osteocytes?
The potential functions of osteocytes include: to respond to mechanical strain and to send signals of bone formation or bone resorption to the bone surface, to modify their microenvironment, and to regulate both local and systemic mineral homeostasis.
Which one of the following bones would not have a medullary cavity?
The Adult Clavicle. Despite the lack of a medullary cavity, the clavicle is classified as a long bone and articulates with the manubrium medially and the acromion process of the scapula laterally.
Where are irregular bones?
The spine is the place in the human body where the most irregular bones can be found. There are, in all, 33 irregular bones found here. The irregular bones are: the vertebrae, sacrum, coccyx, temporal, sphenoid, ethmoid, zygomatic, maxilla, mandible, palatine, inferior nasal concha, and hyoid.
What connects the periosteum to the bone?
The periosteum is connected to the bone by strong collagenous fibres called Sharpey’s fibres, which extend to the outer circumferential and interstitial lamellae of bone. The periosteum consists of an outer “fibrous layer” and inner “cambium layer”.
What connects the periosteum to compact bone?
The periosteum is attached to the bone by strong collagenous fibers called Sharpey’s fibres, which extend to the outer circumferential and interstitial lamellae. It also provides an attachment for muscles and tendons.
Where is the periosteum located quizlet?
The fibrous periosteum is the outer layer furthest away from the bone. The cells in this layers are densely packed, and it contains lymphatics, blood vessels and nerve endings. The osteogenic periosteum is the inner layer that lies right on top of the bone.
Which of the following is the membrane that lines the medullary cavity of a long bone?
Endosteum covers the inside of bones, and surrounds the medullary cavity. The endosteum (plural endostea) is a thin vascular membrane of connective tissue that lines the inner surface of the bony tissue that forms the medullary cavity of long bones.
Is the frontal bone a facial bone?
The primary bones of the face are the mandible, maxilla, frontal bone, nasal bones, and zygoma. Facial bone anatomy is complex, yet elegant, in its suitability to serve a multitude of functions.