"The vascular system of bone includes three types of blood supply: diaphyseal, epiphyseal, and periosteal vessels. The epiphyseal blood supply is through the capillary system. The periosteal blood supply is derived from intramuscular perifibrillar capillaries and forms the specific lateral blood vessel pool: cortical capillaries and marrow sinusoid. Bone marrow sinusoid is a bundle of capillaries with a larger diameter than the others. These vascular structures maintain heterogeneous oxygen tension (PO2) distribution depending on cell type and position in bone. Osteocytes and chondrocytes are exposed to lower PO2 than mature osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Chronic anaemic conditions have been associated with osteoporosis. This lateral vessel pool is very useful to assess tibia stress fractures. The prominence of vessels in bone marrow as shown with MRI is associated with osteoporosis. Because of the importance of the vascular system in bone, it has been imaged in animals with tomographic or histologic techniques on 2D. Fei et al. have successfully made 3D-images of vessels in bone using micro computerized and synchrotron tomography. They combined advanced tomographic techniques with Goldner trichrome staining to show state-of- the-art vascular images in bone.
( Jia Fei and WeiKuan Gu The Importance of Vascular System in Long Bone is Far from Well Known)."
Last date updated on June, 2014
