Bone

Bone

Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue. Bones come in a variety of shapes and have a complex internal and external structure, are lightweight yet strong and hard, and serve multiple functions. One of the types of tissue that makes up bone is the mineralized osseous tissue, also called bone tissue, that gives it rigidity and a coral-like three-dimensional internal structure. Other types of tissue found in bones include marrow, endosteum, periosteum, nerves, blood vessels and cartilage. At birth, there are over 270 bones in an infant human's body, but many of these fuse together as the child grows, leaving a total of 206 separate bones in an adult. The largest bone in the human body is the femur and the smallest bones are auditory ossicles.

Read more about Bone:  Mechanical Properties, Cellular Structure, Types, Formation, Remodeling, Paracrine Cell Signalling, Disorders, Osteology, Alternatives To Bony Endoskeletons, Exposed Bone, Uses, Terminology

Famous quotes containing the word bone:

    Here lies the body of William Jones
    Who all his life collected bones,
    Till Death, that grim and boney spectre,
    That universal bone collector,
    Boned old Jones, so neat and tidy,
    And here he lies, all bona fide.
    —Anonymous. “Epitaph on William Jones,” from Eleanor Broughton’s Varia (1925)

    I wonder, Mr. Bone man, what you’re thinking
    of your fury now, gone sour as a sinking whale,
    crawling up the alphabet on her own bones.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)