When viewed under polarized light microscopy, bone tissue can be seen to have been laid down in a

haphazard manner known as woven bone, or in parallel sheets known as lamellar bone. Woven bone
occurs where bone tissue is formed in its immature state, as in the early stages of fracture healing,
where it acts as a temporary weld before being replaced by mature bone, or when formed in
pathological states such as infection or Paget’s disease. In lamellar bone, collagen fibres are arranged
parallel to each other to form multiple layers (or laminae) with the osteocytes lying between the
lamellae. Unlike woven bone, which is laid down in fibrous tissue, lamellar bone forms only on existing
bone surfaces. Lamellar bone exists in two structurally different forms, compact (cortical) bone and
cancellous (trabecular) bone.

Compact bone

Compact (cortical) bone is dense to the naked eye. It is found where support matters most: the outer
walls of all bones but especially the shafts of tubular bones, and the subchondral plates supporting
articular cartilage. It is made up of compact units – haversian systems or osteons – each of which
consists of a central canal (the haversian canal) containing blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves and
enclosed by closely packed, more or less concentric lamellae of bone. Between the lamellae lie
osteocytes, bedded in lacunae which appear to be discrete but which are in fact connected by a
network of fine canaliculae. The haversian canal offers a free surface lined by bone cells; its size varies,
depending on whether the osteon is in a phase of resorption or formation. During resorption
osteoclasts eat into the surrounding lamellae and the canal widens out; during formation osteoblasts
lay down new lamellae on the inner surface and the canal closes down again.

Cancellous bone

Cancellous (trabecular) bone has a honeycomb appearance; it makes up the interior meshwork of all
bones and is particularly well developed in the ends of the tubular bones and the vertebral bodies.
The structural units of trabecular bone are flattened sheets or spars that can be thought of as unfolded
osteons. Three-dimensionally the trabecular sheets are interconnected (like a honeycomb) and
arranged according to the mechanical needs of the structure, the thickest and strongest along
trajectories of compressive stress and the thinnest in the planes of tensile stress. The
interconnectedness of this meshwork lends added strength to cancellous bone beyond the simple
effect of tissue mass. The spaces between trabeculae – the ‘opened-out’ vascular spaces – contain the
marrow and fine sinusoidal vessels that course through the tissue, nourishing both marrow and bone.
Trabecular bone is obviously more porous than cortical bone. Though it makes up only one-quarter of
the total skeletal mass, it provides two-thirds of the total bone surface. Add to this the fact that it is
covered with marrow and it is easy to understand why trabecular bone acts as the principle reservoir
for calcium in the body, and why the effects of metabolic disorders are usually seen first here.

Haversian system

Bones vary greatly in size and shape. At the most basic level, however, they are similar: compact on
the outside and spongy on the inside. Their outer surfaces (except at the articular ends) are covered
by a tough periosteal membrane, the deepest layer of which consists of potentially bone-forming cells.
The inner, endosteal, surfaces are irregular and lined by a fine endosteal membrane in close contact
with the marrow spaces.
The osteonal pattern in the cortex is usually depicted from two-dimensional histological sections. A
three-dimensional reconstruction would show that the haversian canals are long, branching channels
running in the longitudinal axis of the bone (see Figure 7.3). These connect extensively with each other
and with the endosteal and periosteal surfaces by smaller channels (Volkmann canals). In this way the
vessels in the haversian canals form a rich anastomotic network between the medullary and periosteal
blood supply (see Figure 7.4). Blood flow in this capillary network is normally centrifugal – from the
medullary cavity, which is fed by a nutrient artery, outwards. The outermost layers of the cortex are
normally also supplied by periosteal vessels; if the medullary vessels are blocked or destroyed, the
periosteal circulation can take over entirely and the direction of blood flow is reversed.