October 20, 2013
A. Amanda’s bones are weak and break easily due to an impaction in the collagen structure
of her connective tissues. The functioning parts’ of the skeletal system that is
compromised in brittle bone syndrome is the diaphysis which is the top the main portion
of bone, the epiphyses which is the distal part of the bone, the metaphases the region
between the diaphysis and epiphyses, the epiphyseal plate which is the layer of hyaline
cartilage that allows the diaphysis of the bone to grow in length, the articular cartilage the
line layer of hyaline cartilage covering the part of the epiphysis where the bone forms an
articulation with another bone and reduces friction and absorbs shock at freely movable
joints, the medullary cavity that contains yellow bone marrow later in life, the endosteum
that is connective tissue membrane that contains bone-forming cells. All of these
combine to help with the functioning of supporting soft tissue and providing attachment
for skeletal muscles. They protect internal organs and assist in movement together with
skeletal muscles. They store and release minerals and contain red bone marrow, which
produce blood cells and they also contain yellow bone marrow which stores triglycerides.
All of these are affected with normal development with Amanda’s brittle bone syndrome.
B. If I was Amanda’s surgeon the layers of tissue I would have to cut through to fix
Amanda’s leg to get to her femur to the medullary cavity would be starting with the
epidermis of her skin, next I would proceed through her dermis layer of skin, followed by
the hypodermis layer of skin. At that point after surgically cutting through the first three
layers of skin I would be at her periosteum of compact bone, then after cutting through
the periosteum into the compact bone I would be to the medullary cavity of Amanda’s
femur bone. If we are