Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, red blood cells are produced in the heads of long bones, in a process known as hematopoesis. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in an adult weighing 65 kilograms (140 lb), bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kilograms (5.7 lb). The hematopoietic compartment of bone marrow produces approximately 500 billion blood cells per day, which use the bone marrow vasculature as a conduit to the body's systemic circulation. Bone marrow is also a key component of the lymphatic system, producing the lymphocytes that support the body's immune system.
Read more about Bone Marrow: Marrow Types, Stroma, Diseases of The Bone Marrow, Examination, Donation and Transplantation, Bone Marrow in Cuisine
Famous quotes containing the words bone and/or marrow:
“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)
“But the effort, the effort! And as the marrow is eaten out of a man’s bones and the soul out of his belly, contending with the strange rapacity of savage life, the lower stage of creation, he cannot make the effort any more.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)