Canaliculi are microscopic canals between the various lacunae of ossified bone. The radiating processes of the osteocytes project into these canals. These cytoplasmic processes are joined together by gap junctions. Osteocytes do not entirely fill up the canaliculi. The remaining space is known as the periosteocytic space, which is filled with periosteocytic fluid. This fluid contains substances too large to be transported through the gap junctions that connect the osteocytes, including calcium and phosphate ions.
In cartilage, the lacunae and hence, the chondrocytes, are isolated from each other. Materials picked up by osteocytes adjacent to blood vessels, are distributed throughout the bone matrix via the canaliculi.
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Famous quotes containing the word bone:
“Fowls in the frith,
Fishes in the flood,
And I must wax wod:
Much sorrow I walk with
For best of bone and blood.”
—Unknown. Fowls in the Frith. . .
Oxford Book of Short Poems, The. P. J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press.